Blazing Swords
by Shenlong7
Summary: After Conquerer of Shamballa with a return of the Elric brothers. A plot to kill the Fuhrer has dragged out an alchemist bordering on insanity. Will this ruin Roys plans to tell Riza what his heart feels? RoyXRiza and mentions EdXWinry
1. Chapter 1

Blazing Swords

Chapter 1: It's Colonel actually

Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist, but it would be so fucking awesome if I did.

* * *

The car carrying the fuehrer of the state drove down the peaceful Bentley street, named after one of the Fuhrers of the so called Golden Age of the State. It was a peaceful street in the Dankin district of Rulwich, a town that was set aside for the refugees in from the camps, mostly Ishbalan camps, but also others from other places on the battlefield. Most of the people around the car were those cheering on the man who seemed to be their champion because of all he had done to improve their living conditions and establish this town. People cheered as his car came down the long street that went all the way through the town and back onto his route to the capitol after negotiating with the separatist movement that was talking about breaking away from the Sate and forming their own government. At the rising tensions between the movement leaders and the members in his own military, the Fuhrer was forced to use all of his powers to make sure that a war wouldn't break out between the factions, an action that had put him at odds with a lot of generals.

Out of the crowd was a man with a scar over his left eye and a large brown cloak that concealed the weapons underneath as he waited for the car to get close to his line of vision. As soon as the car was in his kill zone, the man and his two other compatriots opened fire on the car with their automail arms that had guns concealed in them. The bodyguard in the car pushed the Fuhrer down on the floor board as he got on top to protect his charge and felt two bullets in his back along with the glass. The would-be assassins had stopped firing after two minutes and the bodyguard pulled out his gun to return fire, but as he got his head and his gun aimed, he saw the reason why the assassins had stopped firing. A man in a military uniform stood over the charred bodies of the assassin with a cigarette in his mouth. The man was tall with fiery red hair that was slicked back into hard spikes that looked like they could be broken off and used to stab someone.

"Who is that man," asked the Fuhrer as he got out of his car to see the bodies of the assassins and he noticed something about them. "Why are they moving around?"

"To answer both of your questions, sir, this is Lieutenant Guile Stryker," replied the body guard as he noticed the expression of shock on the Fuhrer's face. Guile Stryker was a name that had long since been put into legend, a regular Kaizer Soze, a spook story to frighten young cadets in the academy.

"How does that answer the second question," asked a young sergeant who was a state alchemist, but was something of a rookie. His name was Vashov Ranoche, or Vash as they called him.

"Those men are all alive, private," replied the bodyguard as he pulled out a gun and walked over to end he suffering the burnt men were feeling.

"That was cruel, Lieutenant Stryker, but you have saved my life," said the Fuhrer as he held out his hand, which was shook by Guil vigorously. The Fuhrer could feel scars on his hand. "You are now, Colonel Guile Stryker again, but do not repeat the bloodshed of the Ishabalan civil war that you committed so long ago."

"I'll try not to let you down, sir," said Guile, saluting to the Fuhrer before stepping off to report his kills and the entire incident.

"I want him transferred under the command of General Roy Mustang in the investigation of this," ordered the Fuhrer as he got back into his car and waved at the crowd as if the assassination attempt had never occurred.

"I feel sorry for Roy Mustang," sighed the bodyguard as he looked at his subordinate. "Don't you feel sorry for him?"

"I do pity him," admitted the sergeant as he looked at the newly promoted colonel, who had a sickening grin on his face as he reported on the part where he stopped the assassins. "I wish there was something I could do for him, but as a private there is nothing I can do."

"Well actually I was thinking about a way you could help our good general with the new colonel," said Vash's superior as he stroked his chin. "You'll have to be made at least a second lieutenant, but if everything works out you'll be made a captain in no time. What I need for you to do is accompany Colonel Guile to General Mustang's command group and keep an eye on him, reporting any actions that appear excessive in force or anything that is suspicious."

"You want me to keep an eye on Colonel Guile," asked a wide eyed Vash. "Couldn't you get another person to do that?"

"I don't know, could you spend the rest of your life on toilet cleaning duty," asked his superior.

* * *

General Roy Mustang had his head resting on his desk when his subordinate, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye walked into his office, sighing at the familiar sight of her commander slacking off, but she hoped that would change as soon as she showed him the information that she had in her hand. Then again, even as a general he barely read the reports that came into him, even when she put some of the reports that were right up his alley. When he was the Fuhrer, a short time, he never slept on his desk, claiming that he could see the people he'd killed during the war in his left eye. That was when he seemed to be feeling the guilt of all the deaths he had been ordered to carryout and it eventually led to his resignation from the military. That was the time of his exile and Riza was very concerned for his health, but she still had to respect that the only person who could help Roy Mustang at the time was Roy Mustang himself. Now the thing that she had seemed to put all of his faith in and hopes for the future was the return of the Elric brothers, which he had predicted on the correct date, and the new Fuhrer that he had backed with his own reputation. Unfortunately, neither Edward Elric nor Alphonse Elric seemed interested in the prospect of working for the State again, even if it wasn't like it was before.

"Oh god, not another report about some suspicions of separatist mischief," whined Roy as he set his face completely on his desk ion frustration. "I guess that's another report I have to half-read."

"I've got a report that I'm sure you're going to read thoroughly, sir," announced Riza as she placed the document on his desk with a her fake cocky smile, but Roy could tell that the reason he was going to read the document was because it wasn't anything good for him. "It's about an assassination attempt on the Fuhrer."

That got Roy's attention as his head shot up and he grabbed the document, letting his eyes pour all over the paper as he absorbed every detail accurately and quickly. Riza had never seen him read a report that fast with that much attention to detail, not since she put a document about the new uniform requirements for female officers, once again seeing his idea for them to wear miniskirts left out of the ballot. She could tell something was wrong when she saw his expression grimace and she knew that exact expression, catalogued in her memory of Roy's facial reactions to people's names, and she knew that whatever it was it would involve an alchemist known as the archangel alchemist, who was a colonel during the Ishbalan war who burnt his victims, but left them alive to strike terror into the hearts of the Ishbalans, armed with a sword of fire, which he used with finesse as he cut through people without any distinction between women, man or child.

He was the only military officer to be infamous for that reputation or to be punished for how he behaved, seeing as how he attacked places where he wasn't ordered to attack. The military brass figured that he had finally snapped, not being that sane due to seeing his family killed by Ishbalan retaliation to the dead little girl. He was already in the military then and one of those officers who tried to settle things without conflict, but when he lost his wife and child to the attack, he immediately pushed forward the imitative to use State Alchemists to kill the Ishbalans. It was for that reason that Roy had never felt comfortable around the man, the urge to call him a "blood thirsty" sadist was too strong for Roy's will to suppress.

"It's him isn't it sir," asked Riza as she looked at Roy's expression and he replied with a nod. "Why would they send Lieutenant Guile into the fray after his actions during the Ishbalan war? Shouldn't he be removed due to mental instability?"

"He argued that if he had to be removed from his position then all State alchemists would have to be removed," replied Roy as he remembered trying to punch through a brick wall as soon as he heard the decision. "But for the most part I believe that he has found some kind of cure for his madness or something like that because I saw his eyes when he walked out of the court house without a scratch on him. His eyes were different from the menacing ones that we had seen back in the war, they were actually quite sane and it seemed like there was some form of logic behind those eyes, but I guess the brass didn't want him sane so they wound up screwing him over anyway."

"He did deserve it though, didn't he," asked Riza as she looked at Roy, remembering his cursing when Lieutenant Guile was set free to continue his service in the military. "Even most of the killing you did that day wasn't anything compared to what he did to those two towns."

"He was the only one of us who had a good reason for doing what he did during the war," said Roy as he toyed around with the letter opener on his desk. "I doubt any man would be sane after seeing the burnt bodies of his wife and daughter. In the truth of it all, he's the 'Scar' of the military, thought I don't think he would like me comparing him to that criminal all that much."

"So what has any of this to do with him," asked Riza as she took a look at the report herself.

"He's going to be transferred here," replied Roy.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: How was I supposed to know he was a sadomasochist?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for those not associated with Full Metal Alchemist.

* * *

The train ride was relatively quite despite Lieutenant Vash's curiosity for the colonel he was traveling with. Vash may have been anxious to know the colonel's story, but he didn't want to wind up like those men who tried to assassinate the Fuhrer, a cold tingling sensation going down his spine as he remembered the charred remains of the men as they lay twitching in pain. Without anything else to do, Vash started to continue writing the novel he had been working on for a good part of the year, but he had tried to keep it a secret from most of those in Fuhrer's guard as he was afraid of people reading over his shoulder. He only pulled the notepad out to write now because he was positive that Colonel Guile was sleeping, even though he kept his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses. During a certain part in his romance novel, the part with a very intimate scene, Vash felt the presence of someone reading over his shoulder and he turned to see Colonel Guile leaning over his shoulder as if to look at his reading.

"Please sir it's not ready yet for anybodies eyes to see," pleaded Vash as he closed his book.

"Actually I was just about to tell you that we've reached our stop," announced Guile as he picked up his luggage and walked out of the train car, cigarette hanging out of his mouth as he started to charm up one of the stewardesses.

* * *

"It's been so long that I don't know if I could pick him up from a crowd," said Riza as she let her eyes train over the crowd while Roy did the same thing. "I guess he wouldn't have changed that much and he was the tallest Lieutenant back then so maybe we can make him out here."

"I think I've just found him," said Roy as he pointed towards one of the people getting out of the train, a tall man of seven feet and wearing dark sunglasses in the same manner as the killer "Scar." "Who's that person who's with him?"

"That would be Lieutenant Vashov Ranoche," replied Riza as she saw the famous lieutenant (famous for his novels and his ability to do paper work in the blink of an eye among other things) stumbling down the steps. "He's a good shot, using a six-shooter that is only half loaded due to his love for gun tricks, but he doesn't seem like the hardened gun-shooter that he's known for."

"Let me guess he's here to keep an eye on the good colonel," asked Roy as he ran his hand through his black hair.

"That is correct sir," replied Riza as she looked at the report in her hand and the dossier on both Colonel Guile and Lieutenant Vashove. "I don't think we have anything to worry about from the lieutenant, but I don't think the colonel is quite sane yet because of the some of these reports of disturbances that he answered. Particularly, the fact that some of his resent ones involve rebels being captured with their bodies covered in bones, some having their whole body burnt, but are still left alive and fully conscious."

"I figured that whatever reason they had for sending the lieutenant, it didn't mean any good for me," said Roy with a sigh as he waited for the colonel to move closer to his position and Roy started to feel uncomfortable as the man got closer. "Colonel Guile Stryker, it's been to long since we last saw each other, I think it's been about a decade or two since I testified against you in court."

"Do you still hate me, General Mustang," asked Guile as he looked at the flame alchemist, his eyes concealed by the dark sunglasses, just like a mask. "I guess it is hard to forgive me after I brought all of the alchemists into that war, even though they had been talking about bringing in alchemist for a long time before. What I said when I proposed the use of us was nothing new and you know it."

"Yes and I've had nightmares about that war, and you know it," replied Roy as he leaned back on his cars, noticing the change in Guile's aura from a normal, indifferent aura to a lamenting bluish grey aura. "I don't think there is a single alchemist who has gotten nightmares from that war and what was it all for colonel?"

"At first it was revenge," replied the colonel as he took pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. "I can still remember that night when I found the ones who burned my house down. I can still remember how much they screamed when I first set them on fire and the way they squirmed around until the fire finally died down, leaving their charred bodies behind, but they were still alive. After that I saw that the only way to end general suffering is to end the war quickly, no matter how many deaths should be caused by winning that war. If alchemists didn't participate in the war, then that would have dragged on with greater casualties and that would only continue the suffering of everyone. I never said that it was a good decision, but it was the most logical decision at the time and for all the blood spilled we were able to win piece for our state."

"I can understand your reasons for doing what you did, but it still doesn't change the fact of what you did and who you did it to," said Roy as he opened the door for Guile and Vash. "Please gentlemen, why don't we all get to the command post so we can get started on our investigation?"

"Yes, thank you general," said Guile with a quick salute and then he climbed in the car followed by Vash.

* * *

Colonel Havoc thought he could get away with a little smoke since Riza wasn't there and his hand had been fingering the cigarette in his pack for the good part of the hour. He took the cigarette out and then pulled out his lighter to light the cigarette while he waited for his general to get back and to see the infamous Colonel Guile, whom Havoc had heard about while serving in the war and had been through one of the towns he'd burned to the ground after he had been there. The sight could sometimes give him nightmares, but generally his dreams focused on getting that someone special to him and when he was rejected it was the same as living his nightmares. Right when Havoc had just gotten a puff of his cigarette, a gunshot rang out through the conference room and he looked up to see a very annoyed Riza holding up her smoking gun and he took the cigarette out of his mouth to see that the tip had been blown off in typical Riza fashion, only taking off the surface and not half the cigarette.

"I hope you don't follow the habit of smoking Colonel Guile," said Riza as she looked over at a tall man with short blond hair and dark sunglasses. "I will not allow anyone to smoke in this office and anyone who does will see just how good a shot I am with my pistols. Consider yourself warned colonel."

"Yes sir," said Guile snapping to attention in a very strict manner. Riza couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or if he was nervous from how trigger happy the lieutenant general was. "I'll just go out to smoke then, when I'm allowed to of course."

"Smart man," commented Riza as she looked at Havoc. "You could learn something from him Jean. Who knows, maybe he could teach you a thing or two about getting women."

"He's only been married once and from what I hear his reputation prevents him from having many relations with females of that nature," retorted Havoc as he sat back in his chair, but he found that they had been blown off by the above mentioned colonel, who packed a very big looking revolver that had the barrel of a semi-automatic.

"Listen up and listen good, Colonel Havoc," said Guile with a very murderous look. "I don't have very many relationships of that sort because I am loyal to the memory of my late wife and child. How could I love another after losing the woman I loved once."

"Stand down, Colonel Guile," commanded Riza as she looked at Roy whose hands were ready to snap out fire the minute he disobeyed, but Guile did as she ordered. "I'm sure that Havoc meant nothing bad by it, he was only just saying another one of his stupid words that don't mean anything, isn't that right, Jean?"

"Yeah, sorry about my very ill-conceived comment, I hope I haven't made myself too much of an ass in your eyes," said Jean as he bowed to Guile.

"Well I shall drop it no, but never again should I hear that comment Havoc," warned Guile as he turned to look at the reports and speculations of the office and he found one particular theory a bit distasteful. "Who the hell thought that it could be Ishvalan rebels who did this?"

"I did, sir," said a young lieutenant. "We have reports that there is still some movement of Ishvalans in the north who still feel bitter about how the war ended."

"Did you eat a bowl of retarded for breakfast," asked Guile as he cocked an eyebrow at the paper pushing lieutenant. "This attempt had some serious report and those rebels you mentioned are no more than a petty mob, unfit to even be called a militia. It's either a plan to take power or a plan from the separatist forces. Either way, we must keep a more watchful eye on the general and the lieutenant general. "

"And why would that be," asked the above mentioned general.

"Sir, in either case you'd be one of their targets," replied Guile as he looked at Roy Mustang.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: You can tell by the scars.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or the characters of said anime/manga. Vash and Guile are creations of my own and are therefore owned by me exclusively.

* * *

Lieutenant General Riza watched over the man who was tearing through each document paper, looking over every detail in the report and writing notes down on his opinions, some probably sounding logical and others probably sounding ridiculous, but since they were only in the theoretical stage anyone's half baked opinion was welcome. Even if it did come from an infamous sadist like Colonel Guile and she could see that he was about to pull a cigarette out, but stopped as his left eye seemed to move on its own to look at Riza's hand, which had inched its way to her holstered firearm. Another one of his traits that could be observed about the colonel, his ability to use both eyes to look at two separate things at the same time, just one more thing that Riza added to the "weird traits of Colonel Sadist's" list that she had been compiling in her mind for future use. Another peculiar habit of the colonels was to compulsively stick his tongue out real quick like some form of lizard or snake and then there were times where he would stick it out for two second and then bring it to his nose as if to capture the scents around him, not unlike a snake does.

"Am I that unnatural, Lieutenant General Riza," asked Guile as he brought his left eye to look at her so that they met somewhat eye to eye. His eyes were very eerie, like a snake's eye except it was red and gold surrounding what looked like a black rift in the center. Riza couldn't help but wonder why those traits of his were only noticeable once he took his glasses off, as if it were some form of mask.

"I like to learn from the strange habits of others," replied Riza before adding, "and your habits are the strangest of all, Colonel Guile."

"I hope they don't disturb you in anyway, sir," said Guile as he gave an apologetic bow that made Riza a bit lamenting for pointing out all of his habits which were probably all results of the traumatic events he had witnessed. "You can count on me to try and reform my behavior to make it less uncomfortable for you, sir."

"No, idiot, you can't help it if that's how you act," exclaimed Riza in embarrassment for having made him feel embarrassed. "Whatever habits you picked up due to trauma are beyond your control and are therefore not your fault for anything."

"Traumatic events?"

"You know what I mean, Colonel, the loss of your wife and child during the war, I'd think that would make people do a lot weirder stuff than that."

"Oh you think this is a result of that. It's not something that I picked up after their deaths, they're old habits of mine and really the only habits I picked up from that war were my sadism and my…..my smoking."

"That's a lie, Colonel Guile," said Roy Mustang as he laid his elbows on his desk and stared straight at the snake eyed colonel, their eyes both fighting a battle of will. "You were a smoker before you joined the army and you were the only smoker in your entire division, so don't tell me your habit was smoking."

There might have been a heated discussion or something resembling a heated discussion if Colonel Jean Havoc hadn't busted in through the door and started shouting things off in a panic. Havoc was a good colonel, but when something big happened he would blurt things out in the manner of someone suffering from tourette's syndrome and would shout his words as he tried to tell people what was going on. This, obviously, made him difficult to understand and they had to calm him down before he could speak properly enough for someone to tell them what had happened to him. It took them a few minutes to get him to speak clearly, succeeding only when Riza fired a bullet a few centimeters from his head, but she was followed by a heavy revolver shot that was just one centimeter closer to Havoc's head. She turned to see a grinning Vash, admiring his own handiwork.

"Now calmly tell us what is going on, Colonel," commanded Roy as he stared seriously at the colonel.

"It's Brigadier General , sir," exclaimed Havoc as he looked at the people around him as if he couldn't believe what he was saying. "The Brigadier General has been assassinated and they have the assassins cornered into a building on Bradley Street, but they believe that the assassins have taken hostages and are requesting we send someone down there immediately."

"Tell them I'm going down there myself," announced Roy as he walked towards the door only to turn back and look at the people in the room. "Lieutenant General Riza, Colonel Guile, Colonel Havoc, and Captain Vash, I want all of you to accompany me to the building. I want the assassins alive and in good condition, I want them able to speak clearly and without any burns on them that would keep them from forming a coherent thought. Torturing the truth out of them will come later, but right now we need them well."

"Yes sir, but I do believe that this report concludes that alchemist Edward Elric is a part of the group," replied Colonel Guile as he handed Roy the received message and took out a cigarette to prime for his outside smoke.

"Still, I want to see that they are captured personally," said Roy as he walked out of the room followed by Riza, Havoc, Vash, and then finally Guile who had been looking for his lighter that he kept in one of his pockets, but his uniform had many pockets (in case he had to hold a lot of things).

* * *

"Corey, are you awake," asked the black haired man as he called for his curly red headed compatriot who had priority over all the hostages on the first floor in the thirteenth floor building.

The building was reported to have fourteen, but that was only because the owner was superstitious and named thirteenth floor the fourteenth floor. Frankly the black haired man didn't know who the owner thought he was fooling; people on the thirteenth floor know what floor they're really on. _Jump out the room you will die earlier,_ thought the black haired man as he walked down to the first floor to look for his red haired friend, but as soon as he got there he found that his friend was lying on the floor tied up. The black haired man immediately freed his friend, Corey, and pulled the gag off his mouth.

"Friedrich, behind you," cried Corey, but he was too late as his friend was knocked out by the same blond kid who had bested him as well, the one with the automail arm. "Damn you, you little brat!"

"Who are you calling little," asked the boy as he kicked Corey in the face with such a force that it made them man black out.

* * *

"Okay, everybody remember that you are only to shoot if need be, but I want those men brought in alive," said Roy, making sure his order was clear. "Alright then, everybody move when I make us a door."

"How are you going to make us a door, sir," asked Vash as he looked at Roy curiously, trying to catch sight of any explosives that the General may have brought with him unnoticed by the rest, or at least by Vash himself.

"I'm not called the Flame Alchemist for nothing," replied Roy as he snapped his finger, sending a ball of fire right through the wall and almost into one of the hostage takers, but the criminal jumped out of the way in time to avoid the blast. "Now everyone get in! Go! Get moving!"

The rest of the team followed in, sabers and guns drawn for any target that was right near there. The one target that had dodged the fireball had run into a wall and was now sprawled out on the floor unconscious as handcuffs were put on him. Riza and Roy decided to take the down stairs to open up the door to the troops outside while Vash and Guile took the upstairs leaving Havo to wait for the troops to come in so he could direct them. Roy and Riza ran into the Elric brothers on the second floor, but Guile and Vahs only ran into severe fire from submachine guns and semi-automatic handguns. Guile decided to use military hand signs to give orders for Vash while he started to remove his officer's coat and his under shirt. Vash used regular sign language to ask the colonel what he was doing and the colonel replied back, "these just came out the cleaners the other day."

Setting his clothes down on the floor so that they didn't get damaged by bullet fire, Guile primed himself for the run to the other side while Vash loaded his gun fully and made sure that his box of rounds were in his reach when he had to reload. The only weapons Guile had on him were his gun belt and his saber, which was very long and heavier than a normal officer's saber, but just right for a man as big as Guile. Vash saw a myriad of scars across the captain's body and he felt a sickening feeling as he realized that most of those wounds weren't made by an offender. They were self-inflicted wounds and the colonel was a masochist. Not just that, but he was a sadomasochist.

"Now then, I guess we should get started with the real fire and not the little gun smoke," said Colonel Guile as he placed his gloved hand along the sword, the tough material on the palm starting sparks with the saw blades engraved in the saber to create the necessary friction to set the blade on fire and soon he had a sword of fire in his hand. "Well he did tell me to be merciful so I guess that means I can only kill half of you guys."

* * *

Roy Mustang walked up through each floor, partially burnt criminals in handcuffs being taken off and he could smell a very strong smell of burnt flash as he got closer to the fourteenth floor (really the thirteenth floor). Around the room there were charred bodies, but only one of the charred bodies was alive and he could see Colonel Guile standing over a body, looking at it with a sense of sorrow as he held the Ishvalan assassin down with his boot. Roy knew that it was because Guile had believe that the Ishvalans weren't behind the attacks, but he couldn't deny what was in front of him, the msstermind of this whole plot was Ishvalan.

"I know you didn't want to believe that there could still be such antagonists, but there is an Ishvalan movement," said Roy as he went to help the colonel remove his boot from the assassins chest, briefly noting the self-inflicted scars and he found that the colonel stared back at him with different eyes.

"He was just given this mission, but whoever set this up wasn't Ishvalan," said guile as he removed the boot to allow the assassin to breathe. "I just hate that I'm still thought of as a monster by the Ishvalans, even after helping the refugees. I guess I'll never escape my the name I wrote in blood and fire."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: A Trail of Blood.

Disclaimer: Here is what I own: Vashov and Guile. Nothing else at the moment.

* * *

She awoke from the eternal slumber that had claimed her before, bringing with it an eternal bliss that she had wanted, craved for, but there she was, alive and naked before the man in black that stood before her. He had long dreads with a greenish tint to it and his skin was deathly pale with some looks of decay so that he looked like he had just come back from death as well. (Think Rob Zombie in Dragula.) The man stood before as his eyes looked over her body, noticing every one of her curves in a manner that wasn't perverted, but was more as if he was measuring her talents and abilities, to see if she was worth bringing back. He slowly popped his neck into place as he walked over to pick her up by the arm and looked her in the eyes, his cold grey eyes searching into her soul.

"Do you remember who you are," asked the man, his voice as emotionless as his facial expression.

"Lust, that was my name," said the woman as she gasped in pain and he loosened his grip.

"Sorry, I forget how strong my body is, but do you have any knowledge of why I would bring you back," asked the man as he watched her respond by shaking her head no. "I brought you back because a friend of mine thought you could be useful and that friend is an old lover of yours. I am just one of his creations, but I have an ability that he doesn't have because of the incomplete philosopher's stone inside of my body. I can do transmutations and bring you back, body and soul, but I can only bring you back, not that human you were before."

"Why would he bring me back in the form I despise, tell me is he a friend or lover," asked Lust, the answer would tell her who it was and explain why she was brought back.

"A lover," replied the man as he set her down on her own two feet. The man was seven foot seven and had very long arms. "You'll meet him when the time is right, but for now he asks that you stay at the mansion. Right now he's trying to moniter his enemies from the safety of the division of the East, under Roy mustang's comand."

* * *

Bellock Rijahd, an Ishvalan connected with many assassination attempts and anti-government groups, but never captured, managing to elude his pursuers for a long time. Now he was facing two State Alchemists, both were infamous to the Ishvalan people, but he was only scared of one of them. The red headed man with blood red eyes looked at his prisoner, studying each movement with great interest, as if he was looking for a crack in the Ishvalan's mental armor, but Bellock wouldn't be taken so easily. He knew the man who sat before him was the infamous Archangel Alchemist, Guile Stryker, and he knew that the man was a very good interrogator from the stories of comrades whom he rescued from prison camps during the war.

"Are you working with other Ishvalans or were you just a part of a group," asked Guile as he shuffled his fingers in a calm cool manner.

"I'm not saying anything about my compatriots no matter what you do," replied Bellock turning his head away from the Alchemists, but he could still se Guile pulling something from his pocket. It was a paint brush oddly enough. "What are you going to do?"

Guile didn't respond to the Ishvalan's question as he continued to take out a bottle of red ink and dipped the brush into the ink. Roy looked over at the colonel he was working with, feeling a bit worried about the actions of the man and the actions that he knew were about to happen, which were worse than the actions he was doing now. Not wanting to be a part of the interrogation, Roy left this seat and walked out, but not before turning his head back to see Guile panting a transmutation circle on the Ishvalan's leg. He pitied the man with all his heart, but it was a necessary evil that only the colonel could do.

"Now then, who are you working with," asked Guile as he touched the leg with one finger, causing a burning sensation in Bellock's leg.

* * *

The report on the information was on his desk, but he feared reading it in case the colonel put in some of the details about the interrogation, details that would only make Roy more worried about working with the colonel. Right now he put his thoughts into his Lieutenant General who was away at the moment to check up on the brigadier general's assassination and he couldn't help but think back to the day he had seen her in non-military clothes. Fantasies had often been going through the general's mind, but right now he was thinking about going back o colonel and having her back as his lieutenant. They had more time then instead of now when he had the occasional report or check up to do, but in truth she wasn't gone for that long, he just felt that something had changed between them from when he was her colonel and she was his lieutenant. Maybe it was him that had changed and he was just unable to cope with having the thing he wanted so close, but still have her out of his reach. A person cannot gain something without giving something of equal value in exchange, that was what all Alchemy was based on, but Roy wondered if it was really the law of the world. In order to gain the woman he loved, did Roy have to give up everything he had worked hard to get, his hopes his dreams, and everything that he held dear to himself.

"The moon never meets the sun," said Roy to himself, letting the sound bounce around in the empty room. "They must stick to their orbit and pass by each other, the sun goddess and the moon god. Will I be forced to live the life of Tsukiyomi and she will be my Amaterasu or must I give them everything I have to escape that fate that looms ever closer? Should I tell her how I feel?"

As he was musing over his love life when the object of his thought opened the door to his office and walked over to his desk with someone waiting at the door. Her red eyes met his dark black eyes, showing off a hint of affection in them as they stared at him with adoration, and for a moment the world faded out, leaving only them to stare at each other in their waking dream that could never be. He had heard her words to Al when she fought Lust and she thought him dead. At first, he felt so happy that she was so devoted to him, but then his happiness became remorse as he realized how much pain he had caused her by pretending to be asleep and he promised himself that he would never keep her out of the dark like that.

"Edward Elric is waiting outside to speak with you sir," announced Riza as she turned her head to the paper in her hand, breaking the illusion of the other world that they wanted to live in. "He's heard some word of a group of Alchemists called the Philosophers, which was supposedly destroyed by the State after its members diverted their activities of bettering Alchemy, to using it for personal gain and at one point, the leader of the group was mixed with an assassination attempt on the Fuhrer. At the time of their high point in power, it was believed that some of the members of the group still existed in the military."

"I see, get me all the names of suspected members after you let Full Metal in," said Roy as he took a look at the report of the crime scene and the many of the inscriptions written at the crime scene were all some form of occult symbols mixed with Alchemy, the type of symbols used for a taboo.

"Hello, General Bastard," said Edward Elric as he walked into the room, letting Roy see him for the first time in a long time. "I hear that you found some occult symbols at the crime scenes and it just happened to coincide with a book that I found in my father's possession on an old order of Alchemists."

"Yes I've heard about this group, but they were towards rebellion and bettering alchemy, not occult practices," replied Roy as he looked through the short document that Riza had left on the group.

"Well during their final years, the Philosophers were getting into a lot of taboos," said Edward as he leaned closer towards Roy. "They were dissolved after they claimed to have made a new Alchemic item that had the ability to bypass the Law of Equivalent Exchange or in other words, they were the group that made the Philosopher's stone. A lot of what the military was trying to do during the Ishvalan rebellion was based off of the work of the done by the Philosophers. I think that there is a new group rising from the ashes of the Philosophers and is trying to reestablish the name, they even left the Philosophers' insignia on the walls of the brigadier general's room."

"I think it might be headed by some of the people in the military, a general, colonel, and at least one member in the council."

"Why would you think it goes that far," asked Edward as he looked at the Flame Alchemist and he could see that the answer wouldn't be very pleasant.

"Only those up as high as a general knew that the brigadier was moving to his home," replied Roy as he looked at the list. "This is a very short list and it includes some of the names of the Fuhrer's advisers and the Fuhrer himself. Even I, the general of the eastern division, was not informed until later about this."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Monster of Flesh

Disclaimer: I do not own full metal Alchemist.

* * *

Lieutenant General Riza never was one to just sit by and wait for someone to report to her what was going on, so she often went to get information herself while being accompanied by one of the subordinates that was in the office at the time. This time it was Colonel Guile, whom she figured could be useful for getting information, even if his methods weren't very clean and could give some people nightmares, but it was still effective. The one thing she could complain about was that the man was one way at one moment and then the polar opposite another time, which led her to believe that he might have split personality disorder. After a while of his silence, the colonel started to pull a cigarette out of his pocket and was about to light it when he caught Riza's wondering eye looking at his hand and then at his eyes. Sighing, Guile took the cigarette out of his mouth and placed it back in his pocket as he continued driving, except this time he was actually talking. Well not exactly talking, more like complaining.

"We're not even in the office and this doesn't have a roof so none of it will even get into your face," complained Guile in a different voice from the one he used to confirm that he had heard her orders and was going to carry them out to the best of his ability. "You know, no one would know if you let me smoke right now so it has no effect whatsoever if I smoke while I drive and it's not like it's alcohol or some type of drug that could impair my ability to drive."

"You're still not allowed to smoke in the car," said Riza and he knew that was final so he stopped talking again and resumed his silence. "It will be the second mansion on the right."

"Yes sir," said Guile in the usual confirming order voice. His mannerisms had changed again and it was like he was a different person, as if Doctor Jekyll had taken the potion again.

* * *

Lust found that her new accommodations were filled with all sorts of comforts that a person could want in life and she knew that her old flame had made sure that the room was like that. Her room was not just a random number that he chose for her, he had taken his time to make sure that she would be content with it and added other things to it so that he could make her feel right at home. It was often his manner and that was what Lust treasured in him as well as the fact that he put all of his energy into fulfilling her wish and if she had listened to him when he told her that Dante was just paying her then she could have lived happy with him. For so long, she had missed the feel of his caress all over her body and missed the way he nibbled on her ear while they lay in bed and whispered his plans to her, not skipping any detail about what he intended to do and who he intended to kill. There was no place left dark, even in his inner thoughts and musings were shared with her over the breakfast table and no matter how radical or silly they sounded, he would always share them with her. He was extremely open with her, unlike the walking zombie looking homunculi who stood before her with his tap hat off and hanging on a hat rack.

"If you need anything there is a bell that you can ring for one of the servants," said the man as he turned to walk off, but he turned around at the last moment and stared at her. "Is there anything else you would like to know?"

"What is your name," asked Lust, "it's very rude that you know my name and I know not your name."

"Please forgive my rudeness, Lady lust," said the man as he bowed to her and kept one eye open as he said, "I am named Omerta, meaning 'silence.'"

"Thank you that will be all," said Lust as she waved him away and she looked at the clock, wandering when she would get to feel the warmth of his body again.

* * *

The front lawn had been mowed recently as indicated by the grass shavings on the lawn with other ornaments on the lawn, not the little ceramic men on the lawn known as gnomes, but it had many statues of knights and of the general himself. There was a fountain in the courtyard, a depiction of angels pouring water from a gourd into what seemed to be a small bowl. The bowl hung over a garden of roses that was titled so that when it was filled at a certain point it would pour a bit of water into the irrigation system so that it would water the roses. Each rose was assorted by color and planted within two inches of each other exactly. A sight like that would have been beautiful to behold if there weren't guards lying on the ground of leaned against the fountain unconscious. Riza had her gun in her hand as she inched closer to the back door with Guile covering her, just in case there were any other attackers hiding in the shadows. Breaking into a run, Riza made it to the other side in two seconds flat and then waited for Guile to make his own run, which was just a second longer since he was a bit farther from the back door then she had been.

"Well it seems like they're inside, so either we are a little early or a little late," said Riza as she pushed open the door slightly so as not to make a sound, but there was no one on the other side waiting for her to come in with a gun.

"Well first room….kitchen, is secured," said Guile as he headed over to another door and put his ear to it. "I don't hear any gun shots or sound of fighting so I don't think they are in the immediate vicinity, but I don't know the layout of this mansion."

"He has a panic room downstairs, follow me," ordered Riza as she took point and walked towards the bookshelf that led to a downstairs compartment.

There was a crunching sound, like bones being broken and a putrid smell rose from the darkness of the panic room, but there was no light for anyone to see what was happening inside of the room. When Riza finally walked down the stairs and found the light switch, she found that she wished she had just kept the whole room dark and spared herself the nightmare that was standing in the room over what was left of the general's body. In the middle of the room was a massive pale skinned creature with skin that was very pale and its skin was overlapping itself like some kind of flesh creature. Though its teeth may have been relatively smooth, its jaws had the strength to break through bone as it brought more of the general's body to its mouth, massive hands picking up the gore. At first, the creature didn't notice that Riza was standing there, but as soon as she stepped in the circle that surrounded it, the monster picked her scent out of the air and turned to look at the Lieutenant General. Without hesitation, Riza opened fire on the monster's skull, but each bullet seemed to be sucked into the mounds of flesh with no results whatsoever.

"Please, sir, let me take care of this," said Guile as he stood forward with his sword outstretched and pointed at the monster.

"Alright then, but be careful," replied Riza as she stepped back and let the colonel step into the fray.

At first, the colonel ran his special glove over his sword slowly, causing flames to shoot up on the sword, but then he got impatient and just shot his hand off to set the rest of the sword on fire. The monster seemed to be unafraid of this new threat and extended a hand to grab the colonel, but he jumped back and cut its hand in two. The creature howled in pain as it started thrashing around with pain and started to lash out at whatever was in its path, but Guile was able to keep away from it well enough so that he didn't have to dodge it fully, he could make by with moving an inch to either side. He then shot his sword into it's arm and ripped out a bit of its flesh, but yet it didn't howl in pain like last time. Then Guile stepped into the wrong spot, as his feet touch the part of its hand that he had cut off and to his utter surprise, his feet were stuck in the enormous mass of the creature.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Conspiracy

Disclaimer: This goes without saying that I do not own Full Metal Alchemist.

* * *

Roy Mustang sat back in his chair as he listened to Edward Elric recall his story about his time on the other side of the gate and how he got back. The question about how he got back had been on Roy's mind lately, but he would wait for the Full Metal Alchemist to tell him himself. It had all started when Edward walked into Roy's office to inform the general about the order of the Philosophers and over a conversation with wine and old stories Roy had managed to get Edward talking about his adventure. The general listened to every word that came out of the young state alchemist's mouth with great interest and soon found himself blocked from everything else in the world. No longer did he pay attention to the roses that lay on Lieutenant Genral Riza Hawkeye's desk, the ones that had personally sent with an invitation to dinner for that very night, nor did he notice that his black gloves were rubbing together very dangerously. The glove factory started making his special ordered gloves in black with a red transmutation circle on the back so as to fit with the new uniforms for the military. The new Fuhrer had developed a thing for black clothes and seemed to grow even fonder of them after seeing General Roy model them once at a fitting.

"Uh general, your gloves are rubbing together," warned Ed, but it was too late as the sparks and flames shot out and burned one of the ends of Ed's ponytail as he jumped out of the way to avoid it. "Hey could you take it easy for once General, those nearly burned me."

"You seem more focused and agile than someone who was drunk a few minutes ago," said Roy as he looked at Ed seriously. "Were you fooling me by pretending to let your story slip so that you could give me only half of the truth?"

"General there are just some things I would like to omit," replied Ed a bit defensively, trying to cover up some bad decisions that he had made.

"I know you brought the Hughes from the other side of the gate here and that you brought another person," announced Roy as he held up a picture of Hughes and another man wearing a mask over his face with short blond hair. "I've already had Colonel Havoc and Colonel Breda look into it and I've ordered them to bring the two men back here."

"What gave you the right to invade my privacy like that, general," asked Ed as he rose from his chair, but he sat back down in it and looked at Roy. "We did immigrate to America and I did meet someone who helped me find another gate into this world. We were chased by NAZIs and that is how we ran into Hughes and his family, but his wife was killed by a stray bullet and the other person used the shooter to transmute us here."

"I want to know the name of this man who helped you," said Roy just before the door opened and Hughes was brought in with a smoking Guile right beside him. "Where is the other man, Full Metal?"

"There he is, General," replied Edward spitefully as he glared at the general. "The man who helped us here was an Irish-American named Sean Guile Stryker, that world's counterpart of Colonel Guile Stryker."

"Oh, I'm a colonel here then," said the other world's Guile in a strange and funny accent. "You know, I always thought I would be better here than just a mercenary who happened to meet the Elric brothers in a bar one day."

"so this is the one who was able to do alchemy on the other side of the gate," said Roy, almost in a manner of laughter, but he was simply musing over the possibilities, all of them meaning danger for Amestrais. "So then, I think I should be getting the full story now."

* * *

The monsters face was coming right for Colonel Guile Stryker, but right before it could hit, it reeled its head back while howling in pain. Needless to say, this was very odd for it to do since it had, moments before, been tolerant of all forms of pain, but now there was something, somewhere, doing such damage to the creature that it would have cause to scream. Guile burned the mass of flesh that his feet was caught in before jumping up to see Riza holding what looked like a piece of someone's hand and she was holding it to a lighter that she must have confiscated from Havoc sometime or another. The hand was from the remains of what the homunculus was being resurrected from, but how Riza had gotten the hand. That was nothing important right now because what was important was finishing it off and it could attack before she finished burning the hand of the corpse. Most of the hand was burnt, but Guile still snatched it up and put it over his sword so he could burn the rest of it. The smell of it was so putrid that he almost gagged over it, but right now he had a few questions for Riza.

"Where did you find this," asked the colonel as he looked back at the burning body of the homunculus and he picked out a cigarette to light and smoke, surprised that he could smoke it in front of her.

"It was just lying in the doorway and I knew that someone had left it there and I knew that one of them had brought it to control the monster," replied Riza quickly in one breath, so quick that Guile only stared at her blankly before blinking twice.

"Well I was just wondering where you got it, but it doesn't matter right now," said Guile before he saluted Riza. "Thank you for saving my life Lieutenant General Hawkeye, I owe you one. Hey, there is something on the ground?"

"It looks like a piece of military uniform, obviously one of our members of our military was involved in this," said Riza as she examined the torn blue cloth and noticed the insignia of rank on it. "It's a captain and there happen to be two captains that I know of who would have knowledge of it. One of them is Captain Vashov Ronoche and the other is a bit of an asshole, Captain Carl Grove."

* * *

"You're shirt is torn, what happened, lover," asked Lust as she gazed lovingly at the man who sat at the table, the fellow homunculus whom had always known how to make her happy. "You didn't get hurt did you?"

"No I just wanted to leave a clue for them, just so my surprise won't seem so cruel to them," replied the homunculus as he poured a glass of wine for her and himself and put it to his lips. "We must think of the future and we must gain enough allies to help us against my enemies the Philosophers and their empress. At first the agent of the Philosophers will try to convince Roy that I am working for the Philosophers and as such I must work to keep them from believing such things and soon I will be able to take the blinds from their eyes. That is why I need to keep Roy alive because he is the only one who could believe me and see through the web of deceit around him as well as help me to see all of my enemies and their grand plan. Even I am not without ignorance, annoying, yet at the same time amusing. I know not of how many Philosophers there are or the names of all of those in the military that work for them. In fact, all of the generals and brigadier generals could be working for the Philosophers, but I will believe that they couldn't have gotten that many people. Still, they do have someone with great power, but I know not who."

* * *

Edward Elric was just finishing his story when Riza and Guile had walked into the room, much to his immediate displeasure because now he would have to let Guile know of his other counterpart and any meeting of the two in the same place on the same plane could mean disaster for both. Roy figured this to be the reason why Ed had kept Sean's existence a secret and told Havoc to inform Colonel Guile that he would have to wait outside while he talked with Lieutenant General Riza Hawkeye. Guile was a bit annoyed by this, but he didn't feel like fighting with Roy at that moment. Out of the corner of his eye he saw someone walking out of the room, someone who looked like him and he told Havoc he was going outside for a smoke, but really he was going to see who it was that he had seen. 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Enemy From Within

Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist or the characters of Full Metal Alchemist.

* * *

He jumped over one of the railings as he followed the car to it's destination point, a hotel that was usually reserved for officers, but he couldn't shake the fact that someone may be impersonating him so he walked into the hotel. The two guards who were there were escorting the man who looked like him upstairs. Guile waited for second while he drank in the hotels bar, talking with one of the waitresses who caught his eyes, but as soon as the men came down for a drink, Guile excused himself to the bathroom and walked up to the hotel, looking for the hotel number that General Roy Mustang used. At first he thought that any imposter could be dangerous so he decided to pretend that he was talking to himself and that he didn't know which key was his as he figured that the man inside would assume it was some idiot trying to find his way or that a mistake had been made in the hotel rooms. Guile put a fake key to the door as he used a different number then the one on the door to make it seem like he was mistaking the room number. When the key wouldn't open the door, he knocked on the door to ask the guy if he knew how to get to the fake room number. Slowly, he heard a lock turn on the door as the handle twisted to open.

"You mean to tell me that Captain Asshole is a part of this as well," asked Roy as he leaned his head on his hand. Captain Asshole was the nickname of Captain Carl Grove.

"The only other captain who would be informed of that would be Captain Vash, but he was checking out the library," replied Riza as she shuffled through her notes to find the library check in sheet. "Lieutenant Sheska saw him at the library and even had a conversation with him at the time, so all things point to Captain Grove."

"I'm think we need to put some men on him, maybe we could use Captain Guile for that to keep him away from Sean," said Roy as he ran his hand through his hair in frustration at the pounds of burden that were being place upon him. "Anyway, do we even know if the two assassinations are related to each other? You did say that there was an absence of markers at the place, plus we don't even know if the Philosophers used homunculi for their purposes like golems."

"Well that two is a possibility, but right now we don't know if it is a second group or if the Philosophers were even involved in the attempt on the Fuhror's life."

"Edward claims that there is a strange man who seems to be after something of his father's," announced Roy as he sat up fully and start stroking his cheek. "From what I see, the problem with all of this is that we have little information as to who plans what. Right now we can only keep Sean away from Guile."

"General Mustang," cried Havoc as he ran into the office with Breda following him.

"What is it," asked Roy in frustration as he knew that the two weren't coming into bring good news and only meant further anxiety.

"We can't find Colonel Guile, sir," replied Havoc as he snapped a crisp salute, which was the only thing that was saving him from getting burned to death from his incompetence.

"You damn idiots," scolded Roy as he slammed his fist down on the desk and started walking towards the door. "Okay, I want you two dumbasses to go to the hotel and try looking for-wait no cancel that, I want you two to keep tabs on Captain Grove. If I sent you two after Colonel Guile, I'm sure you idiots would some way to fuck that up as well. I'll go after Guile with Lt. General Riza. Dismissed!"

The two colonels ran out of the room at lightning speed, fearing the burning touch of fire if they dared to linger any longer, but Roy was still able to control his temper at a time like this. He quickly got all the others outside of the office on the go to locate Captain Vashov so he would know where everyone was, the matter had just escalated up in the food chain of damage potential and he was not about to let this powder keg explode. After dictating his orders to everyone in the building, he walked quickly outside to the car that Riza had waiting for him and climbed into the passenger seat while Riza practically stomped on the accelerator. Something was making Roy nervous, a feeling that wouldn't be shaken away so easily like a stain on the mind that is hard to wash off, and Riza knew that there was something wrong with her beloved commander, but now she would have to focus on driving at the pace she was going. The hotel wasn't that far away, but still, they didn't know how far away Guile was from reaching Sean.

* * *

Havoc was out of breath when he finally stopped running and the first thing he realized was that he had no clue where he was or more importantly, where he should be. From the curious look on Breda's face, Havoc could tell that his partner knew just as much as he did, which only exacerbated things. What was worse was that at that very moment, a big looking brown dog walked up to them and Breda naturally freaked out at the sight of the big dog, climbing up on his chain smoking partner while shouting for the dog to go away. Many people turned and stared at the two colonels with puzzled looks do to how odd the two looked worried looks because the two men were military men, the ones who were supposed to protect them, and looks of amusement at how ridiculous the two looked. One look however, was one of great attention and one that wandered over every detail about the two men, taking in their position and radioing back to the ones who employed the looking eyes.

* * *

Colonel Guile Stryker was a tough man, a strong man, not one who could be easily beaten or put into a position of defenselessness. He had manage to develop hand-to-hand combat moves that were the envy of many grapplers when he picked them up and threw them across the floor, which was easy to do since he was very built. Every morning he would practice his fighting stances and do exercises to make sure he was in tip-top shape, often jogging for a few blocks before going back the same way to build up his stamina. Boxing matches were always something of a challenge for Guile because he couldn't find anyone who would want to scrap with him, with the exception of Brigadier General Armstrong, and he would often have to use his fights with street criminals as practice. This was a man who was the pinnacle of combat junkies, but right now he was looking at the floor while another man who looked just like him, stood on top of his back.

"You must be Colonel Guile Stryker," declared the man standing on his back as he slowly got off and sat on the bed while keeping his gun trained on his opponent.

"Who, might I ask, are you," asked Guile as he slowly got up to face the man who looked like him and the gun that looked like his.

"I'm Sean Guile Stryker, your counterpart for the other side of the gate, or so I'm told," said the man holding the gun, his accent seemed quite peculiar to Guile.

"What type of accent is that," asked Guile as he squinted in confusion at his counterpart. "I've never heard it before and I've mastered all the accents that I know about."

"Well, in the world I come from, there is a place called Ireland," replied Sean as he got up and handed the gun to Guile, unloading it before he handed the gun back just to be on the safe side. "My ancestors immigrated to America and this is the accent I've developed since my child hood, but I can use a lot of other accents when I need to."

* * *

The hotel lobby was a bit crowded by all the people moving in and out of it, but Roy was able to get by thanks to Riza firing off a warning shot in the air so that they could make room. It probably wasn't necessary, but Riza did things like that on reflex, which is why someone had gotten the idea to put her picture in the dictionary right under the word "trigger happy." The person who published the dictionary had the fortune of Riza never reading his edition of the dictionary until Havoc had somehow gotten a hold of the dictionary and was distributing it among some of the guys in the office. One day, as fate would seem to have it in for the guy, Riza needed to look something up in the dictionary and had found the page with her picture on it.

"They should be in room 3-S," said Riza as she looked at the men in the bar who were coming out. "Grand, it looks like some of our men were a bit preoccupied with doing something other than their job."

"I'm sorry sir, but he insisted that we take a break," said one of the guards assigned with keeping Sean separated from Guile.

"Well we just have to hope that Guile hasn't gotten here yet," said Roy as he walked towards the stairs and was bumped into by someone as he reached the top.

"I'm terribly sorry general," said the strange man as he took off his hat and bowed before going off on his way.

"That was odd," said Roy as he fingered his pockets to find a note. "What the hell is this?"

"Please allow me to check it first and make sure that nothing is wrong with it," said Riza as she held up her hand to receive the letter and give it her security examination.

"No that's alright, I'll look at it myself," said Roy as he tore open the envelope and read the message that was inside of it. His expression changed from calm, indifference to a horrified look.

"What is it Roy," asked Riza as she put her hands on his back and looked at the letter.

On it were just a five words: _Captain __Vashove__ is a homunculus. _


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Confronting the Enemy

Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or the characters.

* * *

They were just kicking it back like two reminiscing about old times in a room that had beige walls with paintings of old plantations or farm that never existed because they were too beautiful to be actual landscapes. The hotel room's rug was very lavish for the décor of the room, which was a bit conservative but the rug used a complex pattern of many colors and then became a spiral of red and gold. The chairs were very expensive leather, but that didn't stop Sean from leaning back into them as he and Guile talked about their life growing up and the onlookers couldn't help but see the similarities between the two men. It was almost as if someone cloned the same paranoid sadist, but they made the clone less sadistic than the original product and Riza decided that she liked the other world Guile better than the Guile of her world. He was much easier to talk with than with the Guile of her world mostly because he wasn't as intimidating as the Guile of her world. He did look scary as hell and like someone you didn't want to meet in a dark alleyway on a scary night, but he had this laid back look to him from his slicked back hair and his suave mannerisms that made him look like the other world's counter part of General Mustang. Of course, Riza and Roy were a bit pissed at how Guile just burst in through this without informing them and went against their orders, but right now they figured it led to an important enough discoveries that they would go easy on him. Besides, they still had to arrest Vashov and see if he knew anything about what was going on and they had sent Havoc to look after him since Havoc had a bit of a thing for the private who was searching the library with Vashov, Sheska.

"Well if you two are getting along alright I'll go see how we're doing on our Vashov situation," announced Roy as he walked out of the room and to the car, which he soon saw Riza rush right past him to get it started, her lingering scent tantalizing his thoughts as he walked down the steps. "I want you guys to look at them and one of you goes put in a call to Edward Elric and tell him where to meet me."

"Okay so maybe this section will yield something useful to us," said Vashov as he started to climb the ladder up to the high shelves and soon he came to see the books he wanted. "Is that the phone?"

"Oh, someone is calling for me," exclaimed the young female private as she ran for the phone and answered it. "Yes sir, Private Sheska here."

"Listen, Sheska, this Colonel Montegu, we were just wandering if a Captain Vashov is with you at the moment," said the voice on the other end.

"Do you want me to put him on," asked the bespectacled private as she raised her hand to call Vashov over.

"No, what we want you to do is keep him there," replied the colonel as he began to tap his feet, the sound being heard by Sheska over the phone. "Right now we have an anonymous tip that Captain Vashov is a homunculus and he is considered to be very dangerous so don't let him on that you now that he is a homunculus. Right now we need to extract him and find out as much information as he knows, but we also believe that he is a high ranking person and his capture may end the conflict."

"Understood sir, I'll carryout order now, luckily I have a revolver in my drawer," said Sheska as she hung up, forgetting to say goodbye or do it politely because she was so nervous with a dangerous criminal so close to her. As soon as she turned around there he was, grabbing her hand so it couldn't reach the drawer while hitting her on the back of the neck to knock her out.

"Sorry about this, Sheska," said Vashov as he eased her body into a chair and walked off, taking the custom revolver with a wide barrel from the drawer. "This is the work of a genius and I was wondering where the gun went after his untimely death."

"Hold it right there Vashov," shouted Havoc as he pointed his own firearm at the captain whom he had just been informed by radio was a homunculus. "I know what you are and Breda has the back door covered as well so don't try anything funny."

"Well then you should know that those little bang bangs won't work on me," said Vashov as he moved to the side while Havoc took a shot at him. "You are a good shot, but I'm not going to be taken down by you."

Vashov ran from each blast with surprising speed while firing back at Havoc with great accuracy until one shot clipped Havoc on the shoulder, but Vahov had no intention of killing Havoc, then or in the near future. The shot was a clear wing without the subtlety of making it appear like he was trying to kill Havoc because they both knew that if he wished to kill Havoc then the shot would have killed him and that's what Vashov wanted him to know. He wanted to make sure that Havoc knew that it was by Vashov's good grace that he was still breathing, still living, and that Vashov could kill him if he even got the hint that he wanted to. Havoc could only kneel there and watch Vashov ran right past him, leaving only the sound of footprints behind for Havoc to hear.

* * *

Roy immediately rushed in while Riza stopped to help the wounded Havoc who was bleeding from the spot where the bullet clipped his shoulder and she then went to work on fixing his arm while Roy checked upstairs for the elusive captain. The captain was moving through the shadows that covered everything in the upper parts of the library, making every turn and every corner a treacherous road with very little success. Little did Roy know, the captain had slipped by him and crawled out a window, but the window caused him to land right in front of Riza, who pulled out her gun immediately.

"Stop right there, Captain," said Riza as she aimed her gun at the captain. "I'll shoot if you run and I'm a better shot than Havoc was."

"Well I never expected this to be easy," sighed Vashov right before he jumped over the car and returned fire. The gun barked as he twisted his elbow to absorb the recoil and then he started to run again, run as far as he could until he reached the end of the street, but she was chasing him as well.

She fired at him as she walked, but only got off three shots before he jumped into the sewer as she wanted accurate shots that would conserve ammo. Vashov had something like a sixth sense or must have because he jumped to the elf tor right of the shot and when he jumped down he fired a warning shot up wards so that she knew that he was aiming upwards. She waited for the right amount of time before peering her head down into the opening and then jumped down in there and pointed her gun upwards. He had moved on and so should she if she wanted to catch him, but there were other tunnels and the sewers were like one big labyrinth and her job wasn't any easier than now since she was going to have to face a dangerous suspect in a place that was to her disadvantage and her gun was wet. Wet bullets misfired, but luckily she had another clip in her pocket. Ejecting the wet clip, she quickly slapped a dry clip in her gun and started walking down a tunnel.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Catch me if you can

Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or any of the characters of said anime/manga.

* * *

Roy had barely turned his back when his subordinate ran off to give chase the suspected homunculus whom he thought was on the same floor as he was, but apparently it had got passed him somehow. Looking out the window, he saw where Captain Vashov Ranoche was heading, but the glass was sound proof and he wouldn't be able to tell Riza in time. Without a moment's hesitation, Roy rushed down the stairs and ran past Havoc while he shouted for Breda to take care of him. As soon as he was outside he saw that Riza had disappeared under the shroud of the sewer system and he prepared himself to fight. He felt glad that Riza kept another clip with her since wet bullets misfired and if she was down there with Captain Vashov, she would need a working gun to take on the champion sharpshooter. In truth, Roy knew very little about the man personally, just that he was a master of ricochet shots and had the skills that would make a gun show freak envy, but he had never appeared heartless at all. Roy rather liked the captain and enjoyed the times when he was just a private and had to come under the guise of discussing military matters with Riza and him. Those were the only times he could drink and joke with the man, but he knew that if Vashov hadn't sacrificed his career to expose a traitor, he would have been a colonel or brigadier general by now.

_Damn it, why did it have to be __Vashov__ and not that asshole_, thought Roy as he slid down the lader, careful to make a safe landing instead of just jumping in and getting his gloves all wet. He could still use them when wet, but they weren't as strong and it would be a pain in the ass to take on a homunculus in such a state. _I guess it would do nothing to complain about anything, the only thing that matters now is getting __Riza__ out of here safely. _

* * *

Never in her life had she ever thought she would be going down the sewer with only one clip on her while on the trail of a sharpshooting homunculus, especially when that homunculus turned out to be Captain Vashov. She had personally liked him, especially when he came in at the latter part of the war and saved her from a group of Ishvallan rebels. It was odd that now she would have to turn her gun on the man who many had called her little brother, a bit of a joke considering he was a year older than her and was taller. This was the downside of going after a traitor, the upside being that since she had fought beside him, she knew what he would do in this situation, but then again, he knew what she would do as well so really the advantage came into the person with the best knowledge of the layout.

_Little brother, I'm sorry that you saved me and now I'm here to bring you back dead or alive_, thought Riza, giving the apology that she could never speak because talking to him would be awkward, all she could do was hope that he could read her thoughts. _I still remember that day._

**FLASHBACK BEGINS**

Riza was mentally kicking herself for not checking her six and allowing her captures to sneak up on her like that al because she was so focused on keeping some dark haired state alchemist from dying. She looked at the red eyes of her captures, at the joy they felt for catching the woman who had killed their captain and so many other comrades. Her name had been known as the bane of many Ishvalan soldiers, mostly officers, but there were still a good number of foot soldiers who knew the name of Riza Hawkeye. The licking of their lips told her about the things they had planned for her, the final humiliation of a female soldier in battle and the ultimate wound that even if they left her alive, would never heal because everyone would know that Riza Hawkeye had been raped by the enemy. They got serious real quickly, as they started unbuttoning her shirt teasingly slow with grins permanently plastered to their faces. Next came her shirt, which they didn't rip off like so many other rapists, but they took their time removing her coat and then her shirt, leaving her clad in only her bra and a pair of pants. The pants came off next and then she was almost naked before them and they were about to get rough, as attested by a knife being pulled out, but before they could do that, a shot rang out over the hot desert and she felt the warmth of blood on her skin. After the sound of two more shots, Riza opened her eyes and saw that all of her would be rapists were dead on the ground, smoldering bullet holes on their foreheads.

"Little sister, you should be more careful of what's coming from behind you," said the young soldier as he walked down from the top of the cliff without his helmet on with a drop of blood leaking down the side of his head from a nasty wound. In his hand was his trademark six shot revolver, smoke still pouring out from the barrel of his gun, and Riza had counted every shot that had been fired. There had only been six shots.

"Come here, I have something to help that wound on your head," said Riza as she motioned for him to come over to her as she walked to her pack to take out her med pack that was hidden in one of the pockets.

"Don't you want to get wiped out and dressed before that happens," asked the young soldier as he watched her fish out the med pack, her rump in the air for him to see. He was a bit embarrassed to see such an intimate part of her, but he had the uncanny ability to never blush in front of anybody, especially her. Either way she could tell when he was nervous just by the way he breathed in front of her. "You don't have to be shy, Vashov, it's alright if you see me like this since you're nothing like those perverted men in the camps. Besides, I once had to help you bathe when you were weak from pulling the men out of the sand dune and had been shot in the left arm."

"Who says I'm nervous," asked Vashov defensively before turning away. "I'm perfectly fine, I just believe in being a gentlemen is all, nothing more than that."

"Oh really," laughed Riza as she hugged him close to her. The sight of him with cold dead eyes that had a strange trace of anger on them, even though they were as emotionless as a freshly cut head, was so unlike every face she had ever seen him make and for once it was like his mask had broken. "You saved my life and I will pay that debt back somehow, just wait one day."

**Flashback ENDS **

Now was the time when she was chasing after him, the safety on her gun long since turned off, and now she was caught between two loyalties, her loyalty to the "little" brother that had saved her life and her loyalty to the commander that she loved with all of her life. The murky sewer waters sent chills through her bones as she trudged further on, but every tunnel seemed the same and even if she had Black Hayate with her, it would be impossible for her to find him. The only direction she could use was this sense in her mind that she knew where he was, like she was seeing a trail left behind by the memories of their time together and the friendship they had during the war. Maybe this was the bond that they shared or maybe it was the fact that she was determined to bring him in and either prove his innocence or exact revenge upon him for betraying her. _What will I do if he is a homunculus and he has been betraying us_, thought Riza as she pondered over the question. As soon as she turned the corner she felt a gun to her head and she turned her head slightly to see Vashov, grinning like he had always grinned as if nothing had happened between them, but it was all a lie. Something big had happened between them and it couldn't be ignored by simply acting like it hadn't.

"Please put the gun down, Riza, we don't have to do this," said Vashov calmly as he let his face show his true self, the one that was hidden behind that mask that he always seemed to project.

"All this time, you were lying to me behind my back," shouted Riza as she knocked his gun away and tried to elbow him in the face, but he caught her attack in his hand with little ease. "Did you ever even feel happy enough to smile when you were around me or were you just only doing that for a private laugh in your head?"

"Little sister, I'm sorry that things have come to this, I really did have lots of fun with you," replied Vashov with a smile, one that actually seemed to fit him now instead of those little kid smiles that were filled with an innocence that he lacked. "Every laugh I had was meant to be just as hard as it was, every smile was just as bright as it was, and I just thought a lack of innocence wouldn't help you ease your mind. You are one of the best friends I ever had and might I add, you are the closest thing to a sister that I have ever had, but I'm afraid that it must end for a time, hopefully to be restarted again. Just give me time and you will see that I am not your enemy, but an ally that you need very much, especially since they plan to assassinate the man you love."

"What do you mean," asked Riza with a blush as she knew he knew who he was referring to, but embarrassment got there before realization. "Wait! You mean that the Philosophers plan to kill General Mustang?"

"Don't worry, I will do all I can to prevent it and point you into the right place," assured Vashov as he patted her on the head and stepped toward a hole. "I know right now I don't deserve your trust, but because he is special to you, I will keep him from harm, just as long as you only stick to exposing members of the Philosophers. The object that they are trying to gain is something that was once in my possession, but unfortunately, it was taken from me and now the Philosopher's stone is lost somewhere. I need that stone, big sister, for like you, I also have someone whom I love and I wish to make her human with it. I will contact you when I have something useful for you, but until then, goodbye, big sister."

He then vanished into the hole.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: The Split

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters of Full Metal Alchemist.

* * *

She was just sitting there on the floor in a daze as if someone had just given her haymaker on the left side of her head, but Roy knew better than that. Riza was probably just stunned at the absence of Vashov, the captain's betrayal proving to be a lot more for Riza to handle because of how close she was to him, he was her little brother. In a way, Roy had always seen Vashov as his rival for Riza's heart, that one person who could mean as much to Riza as he could and in a way, Roy was a bit glad that Vashov was gone now. He could have Riza all to himself without having to worry about any competitors or that Vashov might steal her away from him, but looking at her now, Roy felt a bit ashamed at being happy at her loss for he could see that she was taking it very hard with the way her eyes had a sadness to him that made his heart wrench itself out of his chest. Her tears came like little droplets of rain on the ground and Roy was compelled to hold her in her arms and tell her it was going to be alright as he gently whispered calming words of assurance into her ears. When she had finally stopped they just sat there, holding each other in a space that was somewhere between then and eternity as the lines of rank were broken down, general and lieutenant general became man and woman. They were in a place where nothing else mattered, only that they knew of no other place they wanted to be in than the safety of each other's arms, and Roy could have lived in that spot, in that moment, but the outside world called for the Flame Alchemist to stand for justice.

"General Roy, Lieutenant General Riza, are any of you down here," called a voice that belonged to Colonel Havoc who was trudging through the sludge of the sewer with great disgust on his face. "You guys couldn't pick a cleaner place to do this in, like say in some abandoned building that doesn't smell out the latrine in a prison."

"Yeah I'm sure they'll let the suspect they're chasing in on your preference next time they are in the middle of a high speed chase," came the sarcastic remark from the infamous, Colonel Guile Stryker as he shifted a cigar in his mouth. "My god that guy was like the winds of typhoon, freakin humanoid typhoon."

"Stop harboring your man crush and help me," ordered Roy as he hoisted Riza over his sholder like she was hurt, but they both knew she wasn't, this was just an excuse for Vashov getting away from her, one that the Fuhrer would accept hopefully.

"Yes sir," said Guile as he helped Riza up to the surface where the darkness of evening had begun to move in on the retreating sun as it went down casting an ominous glow over the horizon. The night seemed to be laced with foreboding and yet there was nothing any of them could do.

* * *

"Well all of the books that he asked me to pick up were on the top shelf and all very different," said Sheska as she was questioned by Roy and Riza, who both found it better if Guile didn't do the questioning due to his aggressive tactics. "It seemed odd to me that he would be looking in those books about gardening, but I guess it was like Dr. Marcoh's research."

"No actually it was a code in itself," added Sean, the other world's Guile, as he walked into the room with glasses on and holding the paper up. "If you were to look at the first word of each book you would see that the message says, 'There is danger concerning General Roy.'"

"What was that," asked Riza as she snatched the paper from his hand and shot him a dangerous look so he wouldn't follow up with some snappy comment, but few things stopped a man like Sean.

"I see that the wounds were mostly done to your manners," commented Sean as he walked out of the room with a grin on his face as he could sense the rage fuming right behind him. "Edward and I will be looking for whatever the map it supposed to point to."

"What map would that be," asked Roy as he turned to look at the now nervous Sean who was obviously supposed to keep that last bit a secret, but he apparently had butterfingers of the mouth.

"Well Vashov just happened to leave Edward a map detailing to a place where the Philosophers were looking for whatever it is they're looking for," replied Sean as he slowly backed out of the room, only to run into a very shocked Winry. "Ah, whatever it is I didn't do it?"

"I wasn't here to talk about anything," said Winry in clear annoyance because it meant that he had done something and she would have to kill him later most likely, but for now she could just get by with letting him live since she didn't know if he had developed it from always getting into trouble with her. "I was actually here to get you so we could get to the train station in time to get to the city of Beniy."

"Well then I guess you have room for another person in your group," said Roy as he walked to the door while pointing at random corporals that were sitting around. "All of you have my bag packed and then I want you, Riza, to take over while I'm gone for a few days and cover for me in case the Fuhrer shows up while I'm gone."

"Um, sir, don't you think that's a bit rude to force yourself onto a girl like that," said Winry as she shrunk before the over bloated General before her. "I hope that you're not trying to use your power or influence to get into my pants, General."

"What would he want to do that for," asked Sean as he lit a cigarette and shifted it up quickly to avoid the bullet that came for it. "I mean he has Lieutenant General Hawkeye here so he shouldn't need you or would want you since there are some good looking women here. Please tell me this is just alert status and they wear miniskirts when the alert status is revoked."

"Sadly no, but that suggestion is perfect to give to the Fuhrer," said Roy as he started scheming with the mischievous looking mercenary before Riza fired a warning shot.

"General or not, that is as far as that little conversation goes," said Riza before she pulled the cigarette out of Sean's mouth and cut the tip off. "There you go."

"Thanks, now can you tell me where the bathroom is, I think I might just shit myself in a few minutes," replied Sean as he stood there in shock.

* * *

Riza tossed and turned in her bed as she began to wander how Roy was being on a train somewhere far off by now, without her to make sure that he was alright. She suspected that Sean had started to ignore the radio that he was in charge of monitoring because he stopped listening after a few calls at midnight, but she wanted an up to date status report. After writing down a reminder to hurt Sean severely, Riza went into the bathroom to take a look at herself in the mirror and see the tired looking woman in the mirror, worry had taken its toll on her and he had only left yesterday. Last night was one that was filled without sleep as she tried not to think about him lying in a puddle of his own blood. The phone rang on her bed stand, it's high pitched ring could leave a headache on a person, but for her it left a sense of dread in her stomach as she picked up the phone and put it to her ear.

"Hello," said Riza, her voice a bit unsteady in her throat as she heard a familiar voice on the phone.

"I told you not to let him out of your sight," said the voice on the other end, the speaker's indifferent tone of voice didn't match the severity of his words.

"Vashov, what are you doing this call could be monitored," whispered Riza, unsure of whether or not she was being observed by agents to see if she was a traitor.

"It's not, I know that for a fact since one of my own is on the phone trackers," replied Vashov as he picked up something and she could hear another voice, a woman's voice that was somehow familiar. "Anyway, that is not the issue, the issue here is that an assassin has been dispatched for Roy's head and the assassin might be on the train right now."

"Is there any way that I could do anything about it," asked Riza as she panicked thinking that Roy was so close to death, if not dead all ready, and she couldn't do anything to stop it.

"You can meet me at the public library on Walden Street, make sure you're not followed," replied Vashov. "Don't worry, I'm sure the man they have guarding him will be able to protect him and I have a way to get on the train myself. The library should be open now so I'll see you there, big sister."

"Okay, I'll be there in fifteen minutes, little brother," replied Riza.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The Contact

Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist or the characters of said anime/manga.

* * *

He had been reading one of his books earlier, but right now General Roy Mustang was sleeping in his chair with his book over his face so that the sun would not get into his eyes. Sean had taken his occupation to writing something down for the train ride, a story that he was thinking up in his mind as a way to pass the time, while he adjusted his red tie every ten minutes. His early years had been haunted by one incident during his thirteenth year when he was on the run from a gang, they eventually found him and tied him up in the back of a truck. The only way he managed to escape from the ordeal was by breaking out of the rope and taking out a piece of piano wire to dispatch the gangsters with. Somehow, the piano wire had snapped, but it had already cut into the gangster's throat and his victim was left to thrash about the floor shouting about how much it hurt. It was after that experience that Sean trained himself to do other things and found a piece of thread that was tougher than steel, but was able to cut into his victims throats without snapping. Over time he had developed a mechanism in his watch to make it possible for him to shoot the wire out at fast enough speeds to cut through the human body.

Right now he was examining said watch with his leather gloves on that he used to hold the wire in his hands. Though it didn't really show on the deceivingly innocent mercenaries face, Sean was very vicious a heart and was prone to violent outbursts of sadism to get whatever information he deemed important. It wasn't that he had no conscience it was just that he was trained to be just like that and after years of being a killer, he had become immune to sights of gore and slaughter that would affect other hired mercenaries. He didn't feel anything from deaths by his hand and that in part was what he hated the most that he no longer felt guilt for every life he took. He took a drink of the scotch that was on the table in front of them, a compliment that came with travelling in the officer's car, and he started to feel a bit dazed by the liquor.

"Well, shit," said Sean as he passed out on the chair from the drug that the assassin had slipped in the scotch.

"It would seem like the secondary target wasn't much of a factor," laughed the assassin as he walked into the car with another officer right behind him. The assassin had light brown hair that was combed into waves and wore a pair of glasses. His most notable features were the various piercings that he had on his face. "Go and contact Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye that her beloved commander is dead and that if she doesn't wish to share his fate she will stop the investigation."

"Yes then, sir," replied the officer as he walked off into the radio booth and gave the transmission only for it to be received by a secretary. "Transmission sent sir."

"Good now then I suppose it's time for me to make good on my words," said the assassin as he removed a knife from his pocket and walked towards the general. "It was too bad, we were hoping that you would agree with us, but I suppose you weren't the visionary we were, even though you helped us by taking out King Bradley. Goodbye, Flame Alchemist."

"Did anyone ever tell you not to talk to those you're going to kill," asked Sean as he sent his wire out and cut off the assassin's arm before he had time to even respond. "Well that is unless you plan to torture them for information."

"Wha-…….ah," cried the assassin as he saw the blood limb where his left arm used to be and then he felt a strong leg take the ground out from under him as he was sweep kicked by Sean.

"Now then, I'm going to ask questions, and you're going to answer those questions or else I'm going to cut something off of you," said Sean slowly as he pulled out a gun to shoot the officer who was reaching for his gun. "First question, who sent you after General Roy?"

"Why the hell would I tell you, bastard," spat the assassin before he felt something wrap itself around one of his piercings.

"I guess you assume that I'm joking so please allow me to break the ice for you, asshole," said Sean as he pulled on the wire and wiped the blood that had squirted onto his face. "Now I'm going to ask you again and if I have to do that again, I'm going to see what other piercings you have on you, understand?"

* * *

Riza had managed to get dressed in a white shirt with dark blue coat and blue trousers that had been imported, or at least that's what Riza told her friends when she saw them. After looking for her keys and laying Black Hayate in the bed, Riza went outside to walk to the library that was just down the street from her, checking behind her for anyone that might be trailing her. The library was just the same as when she had last been there two years ago, except that it was very empty and a bit dim for a place where people read, but it wasn't that well known. Her hand stayed at her side, but they were ready to reach behind her and grab the gun that she had concealed on her just in case there was something more to Vashov's intentions than met the eye. While walking down one of the aisles of the library, she felt something sharp press into her back and she turned to see a face she had never expected to see in a long time, the face of Lust.

"Why did you come armed, if you were going to meet Vashov," asked Lust as she titled her head to the side and stared at Riza. "You aren't planning on killing him or putting him under arrest, are you?"

"This is protection just in case he tries to do anything," replied Riza as she moved away from it instantly. "You don't think I would be so trusting of him after what he did to me, do you?"

"Well you do have a point there, but I can assure you that he has no intention of doing anything against you or the man you love," said Lust before she turned and motioned with a finger for Riza to follow. "He's waiting for you."

Riza followed the homunculus that she thought had died some time ago while helping the Elric brothers fight another homunculus, but it would seem that someone had brought her back to life. The room she was led to was more like a private study with a big comfy red chair right near a fire place and in that chair was Vashov, dressed in a red version of the military coat and black pants. His boots were black with steel round tips and on his hands were black gloves. The man or homunculus I should say looked so different when out of his military uniform or maybe it was just the circumstances on which they were meeting, which weren't very favorable for the homunculus in red. Opposite to Vashov was another big comfy chair that was blue.

"Please, sit down, big sister," said Vashov with a pleasant smile that made her flash back to that cheerful young officer who she had fought with. "I have information to exchange and some ideas of what to do."

"How do you plan on getting me on that train to help him, little brother," asked Riza as she sat down in the blue chair and watched as Lust sauntered over to him and sat in his lap.

"The same way I escaped from that sewer, by using some of the portals that are placed at random points," replied Vashov as he held Lust closer to him, a sense of jealousy and outrage for the homunculus in his arms crept into Riza.

"What do you want out of this exactly," asked Riza as she pushed her feelings aside and questioned her own behavior.

"The Philosopher's stone that I made so long ago has been kept in secret even from myself until they dug it up from the ground and started to use it to open up the gate," replied Vashov casually as he held out something in his hand. "This is something that was recovered from what was left of the wreckage of one failed gate, but they didn't have my original Philosopher's stone, just these pale imitations that are good for only opening the gate. From where I stand, those men are screwing with my plan and the theft of one of my homunculi is only a declaration of war as far as I'm concerned. What I want to do is kill them off so that I get them out of my hair and to stop them from opening that gate."

"Just what exactly are they trying to do," asked Riza as she examined the black object in her hand.

"Well there are many theories out there, but I can only think that they wish to use the full power of the stone and become gods," said Vashov. "If one were to consume the stone at the gate then that person could essentially become a god or at least that is the theory."

"So they all wish to become gods?"

"No, one does and the others are just puppets who are supporting the theory of one ambitious individual in the group. In my opinion the higher ups aren't that much of a concern as those on the rise since some of those deaths have been carried out by other members of the Philosophers and as such I believe that there is a power struggle amongst the group between the ambitious radical members that are like the old Philosophers and the more conservative ones that want to pursue ways to better alchemy, not create all these taboos. The leader of the more conservative movement just happens to be the current Fuhrer, who learned about the group's existence and tried to use the others to create a utopia or whatever he plans to do."

"How do you know that Roy isn't dead and why didn't you take out the assassin yourself?"

"First off, Sean is a very skilled fighter from what Edward says and I did take precautions to keeping Roy alive, but what I need you to do is to keep Roy's survival a mystery to all except those in your unit. I have reason to believe that there is an agent of the Philosophers amongst your outfit."

"But the plan was suppose to be perfect, Marco wasn't supposed to be killed," said the man as he sat on the stone ground with a gun pointed at him. "I didn't know the honoculus would kill him."

"It would seem your plan had very little effect," said a cold voice as a trigger was pulled and blood was splattered all over the floor.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 13: Loyalty

Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist.

* * *

"So you were hired by the spies in the military to kill General Roy," asked Sean, making sure that he got the story right and wasn't being fed any bullshit; he hated it when people tried doing that to him. "This is the truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god because if you're not I'll take out the pliers and start taking off your extremities."

"Yes, it's the truth, I wouldn't dare lie to you sir," whimpered the assassin as he clutched his ruined hand with while he backed up into a wall. "Please don't hurt me anymore, I won't cause you anymore trouble, I swear."

"I know you won't because I never leave loose ends," said Sean as he pulled the Luegar out of his pocket and pointed it at the assassin's head.

"Would you stop with all of the unnecessary killing, you're like a psycho maniac," cried Winry as she slapped the gun out of his hand and then started to assault him with a wrench.

"Hey, why am I being treated like your boyfriend," asked Sean as he dodged each swing of the wrench with the reflexes of a monkey, but it didn't last any longer after comment because Winry was too busy covering up her blush to attack the mercenary, a breather for the moment, but he was waiting for her to renew the attack at any time. "You haven't even told how you felt about him?"

"No, it's a bit hard since he spends most of his time studying those books that the Philosophers wrote," said Winry as she clenched her fist in anger at being less than a pile of books written by a bunch of semi-occult organization, but it was his job after all. "You know, it's just hard to try and talk to him when his nose is permanently stuck in a book, but then again he does look so cool when he's silently studying, like some tactician going over the scrolls of battle plans. It's hard to wait for him to show some feelings for me?"

"Maybe instead of waiting for him to tell you his feelings, you should tell him yours," advised Sean as he leaned back in his chair and took out a cigarette, his third for the whole day. He smoked the cigarette with long puffs of the cigarette and before grabbing the assassin and placing him in one of the holding cells on the train. "If you wait for that idiot to realize something he'll wait until you're old and decrepit. See if you can bear his children then."

"You do have a very cold way of breaking things you know that," said Winry as she started to walk away until she heard the sound of a locket snapping open and she turned to see Sean looking at a picture of a locket. "So you aren't just blowing steam out of your ass?"

"I always give advice from personal experience, but few people believe me," said Sean as he brushed a finger over the picture of a young woman with black hair and green eyes. "There are a lot of things I wish I did do or said, like the words she wanted to hear, but I guess I have no one to blame for her death but myself. She died of loneliness…and a gun wound, but the point is I told her that I loved her before she died. I didn't want her to go without knowing that and it caused me so much pain that I waited until then to tell her that. Are you going to wait for that to happen to you or him?"

"Yeah I guess you do have a point there," said Winry as she walked off into the room that Edward was using for hi studies, slowly opening the door so that it didn't make that much of a noise.

"Well then I guess I better go send that message then," said the ex-mercenary as he walked into the telegram booth and read the message that had just been sent through the wires.

"Wait don't send the message that I'm dead," cried Roy as he ran to the booth, hoping he was in time to stop the sociopathic thinker from sending anything that would seem like he was dead. "Look I can't make Riza believe that I'm dead, I can't put her through that emotional stress again, so please do not send that message."

"Good news, Lieutenant General Hawkeye is reported as MIA and might have defected to Vashov," said Sean with a bit of a comforting smile, but then it turned into a bit of surprise as he saw Roy fall down. "Well it seemed like it was good news for that second."

* * *

Riza Hawkeye didn't know what to think when she saw that she was on the same train that her beloved commander was on, and all it took was walking through a door way no bigger than the door to house. Her "little brother" was becoming full of surprises, and it made her question how much she actually knew about him and if it was enough to trust him as much as she could trust Roy, but she stopped that thought since she didn't trust anyone as much as she trusted Roy. Vash had brought along his right hand man, an odd looking homunculus named Omerta, who looked like something out of a zombie movie, minus horrid wound and missing body parts. Lust, of course, was with him and more accurately hanging onto him for dear life as if he would go away from her were she to slacken her grip in the slightest. The sight of them brought a bit of Envy to her as she wanted to hold Roy like that, just as tightly, but even though there were signs of him having feelings for her, he never came right out and admitted it. Sometimes she would have to excuse herself from the room because she felt like jumping on the desk and kissing him with such ferocity that it would rip his head off if he wasn't careful, but such fantasies could never be acted upon.

"He's in the third car from the back if you want to see him," said Vash as he looked at her with familiar eyes that were like those brotherly eyes, those she knew at least were real because no one could fake them. "But don't expect him to be flocking to you since they might be quick to say that you defected and a man in his position would have a lot of questions in his mind, most definitely on what you are doing with me. Add the fact that we've known each other and he is a bit jealous of me, there is a lot of room for misunderstanding. I'm not saying it's impossible, just be careful of how you approach him."

"Thanks for the advice, little brother, but I know he trusts me to make the right decision," replied Riza as she made for the door, but as soon as he she got to the door it opened on its own and in stepped the man she was looking for with a look that was colder and more dangerous than that of a murderer.

"Now I've found you," growled Roy as he held his gloved hand up and snapped his fingers causing flames to shoot out of his hand.

* * *

The room that Edward was using as a study was a bit like the car that Roy was in except it had a large table that one could lay books on or other papers, unlike the poker table that was in Roy's room. The walls were green instead of red with a Victorian accent on the decorations that were on the top and bottom of the wall as well as the ivory chairs. The table however was a plain table that Edward had probably asked Alphonse to move since Alphonse had grown up strong while keeping his hair short to contrast with his brother. Edward himself was shaving his face a bit to keep him from seeing his father in the mirror when Winry came in. She couldn't help but notice how tall he was, which was strange that he was the shortest boy she had ever seen, but now he was over six feet and five inches, almost a bit of a giant. He'd also managed to buff up, using the time in Germany to strengthen himself to make up for the fact that his automail arm couldn't be fixed since Winry wasn't on his side of the gate, so he got himself strong to make sure he would never find himself vulnerable.

"Oh, hey Winry, it's just you," said Edward a bit surprised to see her walk in since he had no shirt on.

"What do you mean 'just you,' you got something to say to me," asked Winry a bit threateningly, but she smiled at him to show that she was just joking. "I just came to see how you were doing and wondering if you would want anything to eat or drink."

"Actually, I was wondering what has been up," said the Full Metal Alchemist as he sat down at the table and started eating the sandwich that he had ordered a few minutes ago. "I was wondering if you could tell me what is going on with you, there have been many times that I have caught you watching me."

"You're right, I do have something to say to you," replied Winry as she walked over to Edward and let her hand trail across his shoulder. "It took me a lot of courage to come up with this, to tell you how I really feel about you."

"No you can't," said Edward as he turned his head slightly, but Winry was there already.

"And why not," demanded Winry as she looked him in the eyes and was surprised to see a blush spreading all over his face.

"Because I'm saying it," replied Edward as he leaned closer and was forced forward by the train. "What the hell was that?"


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Parting of Ways

Disclaimer: I do not own Full metal Alchemist.

* * *

Ed didn't know what was going on, but he was certainly going to get to the bottom of all of this, even if he had to break some bones to get it out. Getting up off of a passed out Winry, which he was glad that she was passed out because he didn't feel like being beaten to death for appearing to be trying to have his way with her, Ed made his way into the other column finding Sean on top of one of the waitresses for the car. By the hidden grin on his face, Ed could tell that Sean had corrected the direction of his fall and maybe even let himself fall to the ground since Sean had some uncanny ability to balance himself like a tight rope walker. With a grunt of disgust, Ed pulled Sean off of the blushing waitress and dragged him along while Sean tried to crawl back to the waitress, pleading to Ed that he hadn't even "gotten them digits yet."

"What are you doing," asked Ed as he looked at Sean with that look that said "there is no way to describe how pathetic this being is that stands before me."

"Doing exactly what I was meant to do, whatever the hell I god damn please," replied Sean as he got up and brushed himself off. "Unlike you I am not afraid to say what I want to say and I can do it without having to get plastered to gain the courage."

"I'm not afraid of anything!"

"Why haven't you told Winry how you feel, Ed? What the hell are you waiting for?"

"I was going to tell her how I felt before the train jerked," muttered the older Elric under his breath and then he saw how the ex-mercenary was staring at him. "What is it?"

"You just don't see the way you look when you mutter things under your breath," replied Sean before he walked into the next car and found that it was a burnt completely. Luckily there were no passengers inside, but there were footprints that had been left in the ash that were unmistakable. "We have homunculi on the train, you go protect Winry."

"No you protect her, you have no alchemy with you and wouldn't be able to take them on," argued Edward as he started running to the next car leaving an annoyed Sean behind.

"That was the reason you should be protecting her idiot," grumbled Sean as he walked back and decided it was okay that Edward took the fight since himself fighting would only complicate his position. Opening the library car, Sean picked up Winry and placed her in one of the beds that was set up just for that purpose. "I just have to keep my allegiance to myself and that will make everything a whole lot easier."

* * *

Edward Elric was certain there was something on the rain, maybe on the roof of the train or maybe in one of the cars ahead of the one he was in, but he knew that it was there. The footprint indicated that someone or something had been on the train and he would be able to see if out of the window if it had made a break for it. The surrounding area was just pure desert with nothing for anyone to hide in or behind. Moving further to the other car Edward began to hear the sound of something climbing on the roof of the car and he decided it was time for him to do some alchemy. He clapped his hands together and transformed the roof of the train into a hand to capture whoever was on the roof of the train, but as soon as he sealed the metal ball he heard a loud banging sound. The sound was soon followed by a loud eruption from the roof as a man with long dreads that had a greenish tint to them dropped from the roof and looked at Edward with indifference. After looking up at the Fullmetal Alchemist, the man simply placed his hand over his shoulder and appeared to rip his bone out of his shoulder and grew another one in place of the missing bone. The bone was sharper than normal and looked more like a bone sword so Edward changed his own automail arm into a blade and engaged the man or homunculus as it appeared. Ed brought his sword up to parry the blade of the man while he fought a violent battle against the homunculus, kicking the man and hearing bone snapping under his boots, but yet the man was still coming at him without even an indication that he was in any pain. _What is he_, thought Edward as he moved back from the quick slashes that the homunculus made at him, looking similar to the sword fighting of King Bradley. As soon as an opening presented itself, the fight was interrupted by a long bladed finger nail that belonged to none other than Lust.

"Stand down Omerta," ordered Lust as she glared at the homunculus for apparently acting without orders. "We have no quarrel with Edward Elric or any of the others so we shouldn't try to get into a fight with him. I'm sorry, Edward, for this mess up, but we are not here to cause problems, only to help."

"Considering that it's Vashov and he hasn't done anything big enough to make us assume he has ill intentions, I'll trust you for now Lust," replied Edward as he looked around for the others, but he found no one. "So where exactly did the others go."

"Well Vashov and Roy had a little disagreement and are now settling it outside," said Lust as she sat down with her smile, that one that showed she had some amusement despite it being a drag at the same time. "I guess I'll tell you how it happened."

**FLASHBACK BEGINS **

Lust watched the female military officer walk towards the door while Lust was clinging to the man she loved who was holding her in his arms with such warmth that it was so easy to overwhelm her. The woman, Riza Hawkeye, had a look that she had often seen in the eyes of Envy as he looked at the Elric brothers, and she knew that the woman was just like her and wanted what she wanted, to hug the men that they loved. It was the basic want of living sentient beings, the living creatures with emotions no those cold things that thought because they could never truly live except in their numbers and calculation. The only real thing was the emotion that encircled life, everything good or bad thrived on the emotions of hate and love. Lust felt a bit of sympathy for the woman, even though they had both tried to kill the other once, for she could see how much they were alike, Lust just let herself live because the fact that she wasn't human would never let her.

Lust was about to say something comforting to Riza after what vashov had said thinking it was a helpful hint when really it was a painful thought that would kill Riza if it have ever become something more than a thought. She would have said it, but something stopped the words from coming out of her mouth and held the sound of her voice in her throat. That thing was none other than General Roy Mustang opening the door to their car with a look in his eye that would have chilled the blood of a murderer. It wasn't just Lust who was affected by the eye, but also Riza, who backed away at the sight of it fearing that it was directed at her. And his growl was just as heartbreaking to her as that look in her eye.

Vashov didn't grimace or say anything that would make it seem like the words that were uttered had affected him because he knew those words weren't directed at Riza. From the moment Roy had opened the door and turned his gaze from Riza, the general's eyes had been fixed on him with a glare that looked like it could pierce any man or homunculus, but he wasn't affected by it. When Roy brought his gloved hand up, Vashov was already moving Lust behind him into the waiting hands of Omerta who took her off the train and he could see that he didn't have to worry about Riza since Roy was taking care not to hit Riza by mistake. Vashov could take Roy hating him, but if he had been the cause of Roy hating Riza he didn't know if he could live with himself. The homunculus dodged the ball of fire that shot out at him and managed to create a shield of metal around him to block the flame attacks that Roy was shooting out with anger, waiting for him to get the Flame Alchemist to calm down. When the flame attack ceased Vashov decided it was the time to have a heart to heart with Roy, but as soon as he brought the shield down he felt a fist against his face that left a burn mark on his cheek. A flash of anger shot through Vashov and caused him to strike back with a metal transfused hand that stung Roy's cheek as he was sent flying back.

"I think we should take this outside so we don't burn up everyone else," said Roy as he knocked Vashov through a door with another flame punch and was immediately thrown out himself by one of Vashov's metallic fist attacks from behind.

"An excellent suggestion," said Vashov as he removed his red coat and was left in only a black shirt and hits black pants with his gun belt on. Pulling the heavy revolver out, the homunculus emptied the barrel of the gun and took the beautiful piece of weaponry apart, placing each part of the revolver on a piece of red cloth that he had set on the ground. Putting his fist into a defensive stance, he marked the beginning of a fight.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Saying Goodbye

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

Vashov was running as he fired shot after shot of his shoulder, clipping the chasing alchemist so as only to slow him down since he promised Riza that he wouldn't kill Roy. Roy would not have been killed either way because he was using his flames wisely to melt any oncoming bullets that were coming from Vashov and at the same time was heating up the sand around him to make it glass. When the time was right he started breaking the glass and flinging it at Vashov who had to doge each piece of glass being thrown at him until he was backed into a corner. Seeing it as he opportune moment, Roy went in for the kill with a flaming fist attack, but to his surprise Vashov used his close-quarters-combat moves to flip Roy over his head and then produced a knife to place to Roy's throat.

"okay this is the moment where we stop killing each other and come to some terms of agreement," declared Vashov tiredly as he looked at the equally tired Roy, but soon felt a flaming fist at his face as Roy went into counter attack mode and kicked Vashov off of him. "Damn! You have got to be the most stubborn jackass I ever met!"

"I get that all the time," said Roy as he rammed Vashov down into the ground and started punching him in the face with Vashov returning the sentiment. The flight soon broke into a blood sport as the two parties were experiencing split lips, black eyes, and broken noses with neither side gaining an upper hand.

It was then that Vashov slammed his hand into the ground and brought up some gravel that grazed Roy on the side of the face and soon Roy felt a foot pressed against his stomach as Vashov kicked him off in the same manner that Roy had kicked him off not five minutes ago. Coming up with a knife, Roy took a swipe at his opponent who had a knife himself and was using it to block all oncoming knife slashes that were being made at him. Vashov was very handy with his knife, simply waving it up and down to block each and every slash that was directed at him until he felt a burning sensation in his hand and realized that Roy had been taking a page from Colonel Guile and placed a saw blade on his knife to create a spark from the tension. Not wanting to be outdone, Vashov brought his hand back to grasp some of the earth that had been torn up and molded it into something else, a small blade that he brought out and shoved into Roy's right shoulder. Roy brought his flame up to burn into Vashov's face, giving him the needed distraction to stab Vashov in his abdomen.

"Stubborn fucker," cursed Vashov as he struck Roy in the lost eye and seemed to recreate the pain that Roy experienced when he lost his right eye. Both collapsed on the ground from their pain and were soon back on their feet, though a bit awkward from the previous state that they had just been in, ready to fight to the death.

They might have fought to the death had they not been stopped by a bullet shot between the two and a hand shooting out from the earth, made from the soil, each one from Riza Hawkeye and Edward Elric respectfully. It might not have ended if not for the women that were bound to the hearts of the two men respectfully jumped in between them, urging the ones they loved to stop all the mindless fighting and to put down their weapons. A minute passed between the urgings and the response, but it felt like an hour or two and was the most intense minute that any of them had ever experienced. When Vashov finally saw that Roy wasn't going to get up and attack him, he relaxed his guard and then fell down from the amount of blood he was losing from his body, the sticky hot blood spilling all over the floor. Calming his body down a bit, Vashov was able to tell his body to calm down and then let it reach a nirvana as he called his blood back into his body and like magic it responded to its master's call. There was a pause and then Roy spoke.

"I'm sorry to have suspected you of doing something like kidnapping Riza," said Roy with a slight nod of his head as if to bow at the behest of Riza. "I should have realized that you would never do anything like that to her and that you have in no way been hostile to any of us without cause. You won't have anything to worry about."

"And you will not have to worry about me being sore since I figured you would be like this," replied Vash passively as he waved the matter away with a simple hand gesture and out of nowhere came a big, zombie-looking man with green tinted dread holding a file of papers. "This is a list you can work with when you get back about men who are serving as spies in the military and high ranking members of the Philosopher's, each one with an address and documents to support claim. Right now I think you can both forget about the thing that they are excavating in this region because they are very wrong on that end. Right now we'll take the train and say that it got lost somewhere."

"How can the train get lost if it's on the tracks," asked Edward as he looked at the homunculi with a 'that makes no sense whatsoever look' permanently stuck to his face.

"It doesn't matter either way, the radio has been shot to hell as a precaution of other assassination attempts," said a voice from either side of them and everyone turned to see Sean standing with his leather gloves still on and a knapsack full of guns slung over his shoulder. "I thought that we could move to the place that the object of desire is at as well as avoid assassins if we made it seem like everyone died in the train and then we could get the object and have enough evidence to expose everyone in the military and government that is a part of the Philosophers."

"And you didn't wait for us to decide on it," asked Edward as he had an 'oh no not again' look on his face.

"I got the okay from Ms. Rockwell to do it," replied Sean as he pointed to Winry who was helping Al out of the train that had somehow found its way on its side.

"In my defense, he only keyed me in on the cutting communications apart," said Winry as she turned to defend herself, letting go of Al's hand.

"Wait, Winry, don't let go," bellowed Al as he fell back into the train with a loud thud before Ed brought him back up with alchemy.

"Oh I'm sorry Al, I didn't mean to let go," apologized Winry as she helped Al out of the train and checked him for any bleeding or other serious wounds. "Do you feel any internal bleeding?"

"Not that I know of," replied Al, who was now worried of something else happening to him.

"Stop with the phobias right now Alphonse, we have a lot of distance to cover and we will do fine without your phobias," said Sean, annoyed at Al's new habits that he believed he had received from having Winry baby him. "Anyway, according to the map of the area, we should find what we're looking for if we head southeast of here."

"I don't know if I trust the words of a mercenary, especially one acting without orders," protested Roy as he put Sean under a penetrating gaze, but Sean only returned the sentiment with a gaze of his own.

"I'm doing this out of the kindness of my heart and you have the nerve to question me like that," asked Sean in a bit of mock offense. He then thought in his head, _Plus I'm keeping you all the more blissfully ignorant__of the happenings of the outside world, including the coup d'état that the rebellious faction of the Philosopher's is enacting right now, even though I've already sent an anonymous piece of evidence to the Fuehrer warning him of such a thing.__ For now I can only keep you on the route that my employer wants you to go on and keep you in the dark about that matter for as long as I can. Besides, __you'll find out when it's all over and your division is here with enough evidence to reveal the Fuehrer's role in the Philosophers and his hand in some of the death orders that were carried out. My employer and I shall help you with your quest to root out corruption in the military, but only if you help my employer and I find what she wants so I can get my reward. And don't worry about your officers; I've made sure that the areas they have been sent to are ones that will ensure a quick victory. _

"And he did seem to give good advice when he was talking to your commanders over the radio," added Winry as she looked over her shoulder at Roy, as if reporting on Sean's behavior.

"And just what gave you the right to do that," asked Roy as he walked up to Sean, his eyes glaring a hole into Sean, but Sean still seemed to be unaffected by any of it.

"It was simple when they told me that oaf a brigadier general Pellew was commanding the rebellious factions," replied Sean as he shifted his leather gloves. _Damn it __Winry__, what the hell are you trying to do with the situation? You __gonna__ blow my cover and that will only fuck the situation up more than having to convince the General that he should stay here. I swear to god, you nosey bitch, you're lucky I'm a gentleman and don't believe in killing unarmed women, even if I am being given a very generous reward for this job. Even if Dante is giving me a big reward, I have to stay true to my ideals and that is what keeps you safe, damn you. _"Besides, I got word that the Fuehrer was prepared for this coup so you have nothing to worry about, it's obviously a move by our enemies to keep us in the dark."

"Fine then, I guess it does make sense, but don't you dare try anything like that again," said Roy.

Sean snapped a crisp salute and said, "yes sir."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Hey Judas

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of the characters.

* * *

Edward Elric was a bit head strong and full of himself at times, but he always managed to have a good understanding of his surroundings, or at least he believed he did. But now he was thinking of how much he didn't know about his friend, Sean, not even his past was known to his friend, but yet Edward just had that much trust in his friend. Could he trust him now after what he was doing and his strange behavior? Could he just leave it at that while a potential traitor was walking around and could be betraying him right now? Winry was right next to him, his eyes for when he was blinded by judgment, but he couldn't help himself, Sean was his friend.

Right now they were walking in the mostly desert area, about to hit the mountains and caves that the Philosopher's Stone resided in. They had travelled by night to keep from being observed since they had seen military patrols in their area from the Philosophers and they were certain that there was a mole in their division. Most eyes were falling on Sean because of his shaky behavior, but he had managed to help them out of trouble with the patrols through quick thinking and his own tactics. That didn't stop Roy from having Sean under his sights almost twenty-four hours a day, saving the time that Sean went off to pee by himself, which took a total of twenty minutes if there just happened to be a patrol. Luckily, Winry had taken some tents from the train and shared one with Riza while Roy shared one with Edward, leaving Sean to take his place from hanging from something like always did. He was an odd individual, but he managed balance out quirks with his own skills that had made their survival possible. Even Riza, the very image of a soldier, was impressed by his survival skills, but she knew that he did have his flaws and even though it would be hard to take him down, she could do it.

"We should be coming to the first cave right about now," announced Sean as he walked along one of the rocky formations while Riza had her binoculars out to scout the area. A bullet shot rang out and there was a small explosion in one of the rocks that was an inch from where Sean was walking.

"Every take defensive positions," said Roy as he dove behind a rock for cover as did everyone else, but RIza who was trying to find the sniper. "Damn it Riza, find some cover."

"I know I can get a shot on him," replied Riza as she lined up the bullet pattern to find the sniper running for cover and she placed her shot a few inches ahead of his head so he would run into it, blowing away a good portion of his frontal lobe, which if it didn't kill him, it would leave him out. "There we are, I got him, but they might have a patrol coming."

"Probably have a few alchemists in that patrol as well, but we'll be long gone," said Sean as he checked his own rifle for any disfigurement. "I think we might have to split in pairs for this, Riza and Roy can be one team. The next team can be comprised of Vashov, Lust, and Omerta. The last team will consist of Ed, I, and Winry. Is that good?"

"Um, you forgot about me," said Al as he raised his hand and then everyone seemed to sweat drop at Sean's terrible memory.

"Oh, yeah you're here, so I guess you go with Roy and Riza," said Sean as he pulled out the shotgun in the pack of weapons that he had taken from the train, which mostly consisted of rifles with one shotgun, but submachine guns were not a part of the deal since they were harder to store into compartments. "I think that's all I need to say for now, let's move out."

* * *

Just staring at the ceiling with no other thought than about the woman outside who was currently bathing in one of the oasis that was nearby, that was all Roy Mustang was doing as he lay in his small tent that had room for only three people. He tried imagining how she looked in the waters of the oasis, washing herself clean of all the sand that had gotten on her and once he started thinking about them, he just couldn't help himself with it. His body was calling out for her, for Riza Hawkeye, who seemed to not know that when she took off her coat and left herself in only a white shirt and black pants, it took so much for control for Roy not to remove everything else and have her right there. Before or after she shot him in a place that would probably put a damper on his romantic escapades. His pants all of a sudden got tighter in a certain spot that made him hope that Riza wouldn't suddenly walk in the door and see him like that, but he had to think of a way to cover it. There was only one option, all though it would make him feel ashamed for a few hours, but he had no choice but to masturbate and he was glad that Alphonse had decided to sleep outside under the stars. He slid his pants partially down and then started to jerk off to his fantasies, never noticing that Riza had crawled into the tent until he by chance opened his eyes and saw her naked body.

Riza was unsure about what she was about to do, but she had been instructed by Lust and Winry to do this if she was going to tell him, just to show him how much she loved him. It was an awkward thing for her, a lieutenant general, to appear naked and seduce her superior officer, especially with Alphonse so close and just below the legal age to know of such things. Plus he might accidently see her as she made her way to the tent, but she knew that was just her own paranoia for she made sure that she wouldn't be seen by telling him to sleep on the side that had an obstructed view of the lake so that he would never get a peak at the goods that she reserved for one man. That man, however, was lying in the tent doing something that she had often heard of Colonel Havoc getting caught doing while in the bathroom once, among other sad charges against him. The one man she cared about was jacking off in the tent and she felt a bit disturbed by this action and jealous thinking it was another woman since he could have just had her, but then she heard it.

"Riza..," he moaned as he continued on with his business. Then one eye opened slightly and then both shot open in surprise as a Riza just crawled in there, naked as the day she was born with water still dripping down her wet chest, and falling off her perky nipples like rain drops.

"Oh Roy, you didn't have to do that, I could have done that for you," said Riza and she immediately turned a thousand shades of red as soon as those words left her mouth. She laid down right next to him, too embarrassed to look at him, but she was determined to get these words out. "I love you Roy and will do anything for you, even if you do not feel the same way. If you wish I can help you achieve release now just as long as you want me to do it."

* * *

Winry didn't know why, but she thought she would deliver Sean his dinner while he was cleaning his guns, maybe find out something from like his past or perhaps anything about Edward that she should know. The sun was setting over the horizon, leaving a glow on every object with its orange glow and she could see that he was in that suitcase that he brought along. It was strange that he brought it, but as soon as she saw the antenna she realized that he had brought a radio for something. She hid and waited for him to talk.

"Yes, everything is going to plan and Ed and the rest will get there on time," said Sean to the person on the other side. "Don't worry about my job, just get my pay ready and I'll get my part done, guaranteed. Right now they are suspicious of me due to Winry listening in on me giving directions to Roy's officers, but I think I can stay in their trust or enough of their trust to do my job. What…? Kill Winry to prevent her from finding out?"

Winry didn't need a second thought before she took off running to get Ed and tell him about this before Sean did anything.

"I'm sorry but that is not part of the deal and I won't do that," replied Sean to his employer as he examined a bullet in his hand. "She is the love interest of my friend and that would cause damage that I was assured would not happen. Besides this is for their benefit and would make it a bit odd if I killed her. But for now I'll go back before they come looking for me. Goodbye Dante."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Only Friends

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or the characters. A thank you to Bar-oki and harryswoman for reviewing.

Sean walked out of the small dune that he had used to hide himself from the eyes of the others, even though someone could peer over there, it was still more effective than standing out for everyone to see. He couldn't say that he liked having to deceive Edward Elric and his brother Alphonse, nor did he gain pleasure for having to deceive the others. The only thing he could say was that he was going to help them and in the end, he will get exactly what he wanted, his dead lover resurrected. To him, if he could hold her in his arms again, than everything would have been worth it, but yet he can't say that because the memories would come flooding back to him and he would be left weeping again. He would hate himself for not taking his own life the day she died of poisoning, a result of her betraying her old employers by not killing him. _I guess there is something to be said about not falling in love with a woman who was sent to kill you_, thought Sean bitterly as he made his way out of the sandy area to the dry ground of the rock formations. _What I wouldn't give to see you right here right beside me, smiling like you always do Iris. That smile brings the moon out to block the sun from my eyes when I cannot see. Where has it all gone, where are you Iris? _

When he finally made it to the camp he was surprised to see that the camp was mysteriously deserted, completely empty of any human life and he walked around find any signs of a kidnapping. Panic spread in his mind, making his lungs move at a slower pace than normally as he thought of his friend Edward being taken away by the enemy and now they were probably torturing him. Sean was well versed in the ways of torture and very familiar with the process, himself once having been a victim of an aggressive interrogation involving little needles and a knife. There was nothing, no trace of them even appearing to have existed in that area at sometime and he was getting worried by the lack of life around the camp. _No, they couldn't have been taken, Edward would have surely used some form of alchemy to get himself out of it, and he's strong enough to do that. _

"Edward, are you there," asked Sean, his voice resonating between a call and a slightly raised voice so as to keep the risk of reaching an enemy at a minimum range.

"Wow, you actually sounded concern there, Sean," said Edward as he pointed a gun at Sean's chest, the solid metal pushing into the elegant vest that Sean had worn, as if he were at a business meeting.

"Ed, what the hell are you doing," asked Sean as he looked at the gun pointed at his chest and he couldn't help but wonder how it had all come to this, having a gun pointed at him by his own friend. "Have you gone mad or something?"

"Don't act like I'm stupid, traitor," said Ed as he motioned for Winry to tie Sean's hands behind his back with his own wire. "Winry overheard you talking to your employer, Dante, so now we know what you really. A mercenary willing to sell loyalty to the highest bidder, a fox with the blood of reptiles underneath the skin, a snake that waits in the bushes for the unsuspecting victim, that's what you are and be damned if you aren't!"

"Look I only took the job because she said it would help you which it has helped you a lot," replied Sean as he tried to state his case, but Ed wasn't hearing any of it, he was only focused on his own anger. "I took the job the first night I spent in that hotel room. She called me and asked me if I could think of something I really wanted for my skills and my work to help you. How could I turn down such an offer?"

"Oh and what was the pay for the job," asked Ed with venom and hate dripping from his voice, enough to cut Sean deeply in his heart. "Forty million, two hundred million dollars, am I even coming close to the sum that she was going to pay you or was it a position of power promised to you?"

"Please don't insult me Ed, you may think that most of what I've been saying is a lie, but I am not so heartless," replied Sean with a bit of anger and sadness as he pulled a locket out of his top vest pocket with his teeth and Ed took the extended locket from his mouth. Inside the locket was a picture of dirty blond haired woman who was quite beautiful and had green eyes that seemed to observe everything down to the most minor detail. "Her name was Iris, and she was my fiancé. Before we could get married, however, she was poisoned by the men who employed her to kill me and later died. That was when I went into my depression and more bloodier years, right before I happened to meet you in that cantina in Cairo. All I had to do was help you get to the Philosopher's Stone and she would be able to bring her soul back for me to add to the body."

"The body?"

"I'm not normal, well you already know that, but I have a bit of power to perform what is called necromancy. The only thing preventing me from being happy however is that I cannot bring back the soul as well, necromancy only moves with two ways. I had trouble just bringing her body back and this was through a simple use of chemicals and other various things found by many cults and religions."

"So I guess you aren't a complete sell out," said Ed as he put the gun away and turned Sean towards a tent and tied him to the stick that held up their big tent. "But I'm not going to trust you just yet, I'll leave that for military courts to decide, all I'll say is this friendship is over."

"If only you knew," lamented Sean as he sat there as Ed walked out adding, "you're the only friend I have left or had left."

* * *

(Author's note: the lemon scene between Roy and Riza will be cut out of this chapter and will be added as a bonus chapter later on or sooner if I get reviews saying you wants it. I must warn you I am a very graphic person.)

Roy awoke early to find Riza still slumbering on his chest with her arms wrapped around him, the sight he had always hoped to wake up to for so long. His dream come true right there in his arms and that's when he heard Alphonse packing up outside that he knew that it was time to go. He woke Riza up so she could dress herself and he did the same as they stepped out of the tent and packed everything up. Soon they were ready to make their way over the sand dunes down into rocky area where Ed had reached with his group. Upon their arrival they took notice of a few odd things about the place, such as the brooding Edward Elric, who sat on one of the rocks staring at the horizon and Winry, who was worried about how Ed was doing on his little rock of solitude. That's when they came to the most surprising sight of all, the sight of Sean tied up in the tent and that's when Roy felt an all familiar anger shoot through him as he realized that the person who had ordered his troops was a traitor.

"Wait out here," said Roy as he walked into the tent and closed the flap behind him. Riza knew exactly what he was going to do and was the only one not surprised by hearing Sean scream out in pain. She was the only one to approach him when he came out of the tent and said, "come on, we're leaving and we're bringing the traitor with us."

About half an hour later they were walking to the cave that would serve as the rendezvous point for all groups. The cave was very damp surprisingly as a strange liquid seemed to drip down the walls, a product of the Philosopher stone no doubt, but it still seemed so unreal that this Philosopher stone could do so much. Even Vashov, the creator of the stone, marveled at the power at which it held. Dragging Sean inside the cave was Riza, who had been going pretty easy on him because of the injuries he received from Roy's interrogation, but the mercenary was still a bit slow despite the level of patience Riza had in getting to their destination.

Roy would have told her just to drag his worthless ass across the floor when he heard the thundering of footsteps and instantly realized they weren't friendly as he turned with his hand out ready to start a fire. Ed, knowing that the dampness of the cave would make Roy's fire ineffective, tossed the general a gun and then pulled out his own handgun while Alphonse sported a rifle. Riza would have drawn her gun but then she remembered that she was making sure that Sean didn't escape, and he was a mercenary after all so she had to extra careful with him, less she find herself thrown off balance. Bullets sprayed the interior of the cave walls as the group returned fire at the enemy troops carrying submachine guns and found that they were a bit outgunned as the troops had an easier time of delivering suppressing fire. That's when Ed used his alchemy to create quicksand where the soldiers were and Riza immediately picked up a rilfe to peg off the machine gunners that were causing the most trouble. This gave Sean the time he needed to slip out of his wires, since he had trained himself to do it in case this situation ever happened, and pulled Riza's semi-automatic out of its holster. Roy saw this and wasted no time in turning his glove hand at Sean who was now aiming upwards from his crouched position, appearing to be aiming at Riza. Both fired at the same time and hit their marks. Roy hitting Sean's face with a fireball and Sean hitting a soldier who had his gun pointed at Riza.

"Damn," cried Sean as he held his face and Riza turned towards the mercenary to see what had happened and then saw the gun in his hand and the dead soldier lying right behind her. Sean, too focused on the pain shooting through his face, backed up a bit, but he backed into thin air and fell back into darkness.

"Sean," cried Riza as she reached out for him, but came up with nothing. "Oh shit, we have to go after him."

"Why, he didn't give any information and he would have killed you had I not thrown his shot off," said Roy, who still hadn't realized Sean's true target.

"He wasn't aiming for me, he saved my life," said Riza as she pointed towards the body of the soldier and Roy felt a pain of shame in his gut as he realized his mistake. "What will we tell Ed, he still considers Sean a friend whether he wants to deny it or not?"

"I don't know, but you will have plenty of time," said a familiar voice as the two heard the pulling of the hammer of a revolver. They turned to see a smoking Guile with gun pointed at them, dressed in a Philosopher's officer uniform. "I'm going to have to ask you two to surrender right here."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: The Great Escape.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or the characters.

* * *

The man felt a cool splash of water on his face that caused him to become so enraged that he immediately jumped up and grabbed the throat of the person who had splashed his burnt scarred face. It was then that he realized how badly a beating his body had taken as he felt the aching in his joints and even the simple gestures of him moving his hand was a painful ordeal. He ignored the pain as he squeezed his hand, a feeling of jagged needles being stabbed in his flesh shot through his arm and it helped him to realize that he was being surrounded by men with guns. Realizing that his bones would be unable to handle his usual tricks, he found it more appropriate to let go of the persons neck and put his hands up.

He was escorted into another part of the cave where two people sat at a table drinking wine while one of the persons sitting at the table ate on fine China. The guards sat him down in an unfriendly manner because of the guard who would have some trouble breathing for a while, much to the displeasure of the members of the table. One of the members of the table was someone he knew, his employer Dante, a woman with auburn hair and bright blue eyes. The other was man with brown chestnut hair that went with his smile to give him this friendly air to him, but it seemed phony to the scarred man. The chestnut haired man had this big smile to him that was fitting of a man who used charisma to fool people into following for him and he wore a uniform that showed him to be a high power in the Philosophers as he had the rank of a general. Along his jaw was a neatly trimmed bear that was a stark contrast to the scarred man's slightly disheveled goatee.

"So I see that my friends were right about your allegiance, Dante," said the scarred man as he glared at the woman in the chair and felt his arms becoming a bit numb as he drank the wine in front of him. He knew they had most likely put some drug in there to numb the sensation in his body, if they wanted to kill him they would have blown his head off a long time ago. They obviously needed him for his talents and Dante still felt that he could be useful. "I just hate that I myself have been lied to for this whole mission and now feel like they have a tangible warrant for future persecutions."

"What you did was save Roy's men just like I promised and you saved them since they are not dead," replied Dante as she leaned her head on her hand and looked at the mercenary. "Anyway, I believed that I could make it up to you by sweetening the deal that we have and give you a chance to decide on how well they should live in captivity."

"Right now, half of Roy's men are in our camps with decent living conditions," announced the chestnut haired man as he cut into his steak. "There is another group that is causing guerilla warfare on my men so hopefully you could get in touch with them and plan some way for you to mislead them into a trap. If you decline I will let you go, but we will treat our prisoners as harshly as spies and the other men who are hiding somewhere will be killed. Anyway, our reward for you will be more because of the initial problems and falsehoods on our parts."

"I want my wife as soon as you get that stone, just make that much clear or those men will be the least of your worries," said Sean as he sat back in his chair and looked at the two with a mask of faint interest for their offer. _I find it better to go along with their plans and find a way to salvage the whole operation, maybe even use those men to my advantage. This much I must do, get my revenge, because no one fucks with me and has a happy time of it. The flesh from my face is going to be paid for, I just have to act the part of an angry person to get what I want, and not that it will be a problem. _"Go on."

* * *

Roy was woken up by the same bright light being shined in his face like any day, being woken up before dawn so that he could go for his walk around the tunnel complex that had been amazingly formed by the Philosophers. It was then that he could meet with Ed who would then tell him the agenda for the day and then they would spend the day in the library that they took afternoon visits with. The women were given their own rooms with each other, but the two groups rarely met because of the dangers it could cause. The one update he got were the letters that were delivered to him at night and in the afternoon, but he never saw the sender and could only confirm that the letters were in her own hands during their meetings every week.

Days passed with the only regret on his mind was that he had never told Ed about what really happened to Sean, only saying that he had fallen off a cliff in the firefight before they were captured by the infamous Guile. Vashov, Lust, Omerta, and luckily Alphonse had eluded the captors and were somewhere in the complex, causing trouble for the enemy. Every day he would hear the guards grumbling about something that happened and he marveled at how Vashov was keeping the enemy on their toes, but at the same time searching for the Philosopher's stone. Ed seemed a bit distant with the loss of his friend and the fact that the only thing he had ever said to Sean the last time they met was "when this is over, I'll be looking for a way to send you back to where you came from, you bastard." It made him so depressed that he had stopped his usual demeanor and began to become less argumentative. It was the worst place to have Edward as, but Roy knew that if he told Ed how Sean had really died it would only cause problems inside the group and makes their escape difficult.

"So what is on the agenda today," asked Roy as he walked nest to Ed, his ungloved hand running against his scalp as he walked down to the library.

"Tell me, General, how did Sean fall," asked Ed, a bit of anger in his voice as he talked to Roy and Roy could only wonder how he found out about Sean's fate. "You used alchemy on him and set half of his face on fire, sending him over the cliff in pain. You killed him."

"He grabbed the gun out of Riza's holster, I thought he was going to kill her," replied Roy, his eyes looking down at his feet in shame as he thought about the innocent whom he had killed with his alchemy. Another ghost in his left eye to haunt him. "I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to fess up to killing another innocent person, it was my way to escape the guilt of it all, but I guess I never could get rid of it. Guilt of the murder became the guilt of not telling you, but how did you find out?"

"He didn't die," said Ed as he rubbed his gloved hands together, the gloves having strange markings on them to make any alchemy he used dangerous to him by doing taboos. "I met him yesterday when he came into my room last night to give me a letter sent by Winry. He's badly burnt on one side of his face and he has a scar right between the eyes from the decent, but other than that he's fine."

"I'm glad he's alive and I think he's the one we have to thank for all of this," said Roy as he motioned for everything around them. "So where does he stand then?"

"He's planning to get us out of here," whispered Ed as he leaned towards Roy and handed him a paper clip that Sean had sneaked him. "He's got your men ready to attack this installation at noon when the guards are changing so that they catch them by surprise."

"Okay but we should try finding where the women are," said Roy and then he looked behind him and saw that Alphonse wasn't behind them. "Where is your brother?"

"He's with Sean to get some things done."

* * *

Sean had met her while getting coffee in Roy's divisional HQ, she was racing him to get coffee first because there was only a cup left and the person who didn't get coffee was left with brewing another part, a thing made difficult by the fact that the coffee machine was made two decades ago. She looked so much like his dead wife, Iris, down to the very last detail even the way she would try to use her very sexy cat like purr and meow to try and get the coffee. If it was Iris he would have not given up the coffee, but he would have shared it with her through mouth to mouth. It wasn't Iris, however, and he was taken aback by her voice and soon found he could not resist Iristeis.

"So they sent their top spy to this party I see," said Sean, smirking as he held his hand out and then gave handed her the key to the rooms. "These are for the armories and the prison rooms on the B level of the west wing. After that you can lead them to the armory for ammunition and to plant the charges."

"Thank you, and be careful not to die," said Iristeis as she handed him the frequency at which to call in the other team.

"Only if you allow me to take you to dinner, and keep it, the radio room is on your way," said Sean as he started to walk casually down the hall, passed the unconscious guards and he made his way to the library with the Lugar in his holster. _Now is the time to show off and make good with some friends._


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Complications

Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or the characters of FMA.

* * *

Sean walked down the hallway with his two Lugar's in their holsters at his side while he remained calm and composed, just like the mercenary that was working for the Philosophers should look. Any guard that met him was none the wiser as he made his way to his destination, the library, a place where Edward and Roy could amuse themselves with the different books on alchemy and theoretical calculations that would transcend both alchemy and science. They were really put there so that they could work for the benefit of the Philosophers, but as time road on they would eventually be put into other offices of high ranking as they were assorted into the Philosophers. Of course that is what Dante and the other leader of the Philosophers hoped, but it would never fly with Ed or Roy and that's what Sean knew. He never told them this because he wanted to give them the best cover, the idea that they had been broken and can now be used as puppets for the Philosophers. Dante would never see it coming, but she would see the bullet that went for her head, that Sean would make sure of for all the shit that he had to put up with.

As soon as he opened the door to the library he saw the guards standing to attention after probably slacking off because he could see that they were both nervous in front of him. Most of the guards were sent on the other side of the complex in search of Vashov and his homunculi but Sean knew they were closer. There would be very few guards around and the only one who could hear anything that went on in that room was incapacitated. When he closed the door behind him with his right hand, Sean dropped his left hand till it was level with his gun handle and then spun around, pulling his gun out of its holster and then shot both of the guards in the head before they realized what was happening. Roy and Ed both just looked at him shocked at how masterful he did that and then he went over with the keys to unlock their shackles and handed Roy his gloves that he had secured when they were captured.

"The attack on this complex is going to happen in ten minutes, you have that long to sneak your way to the vehicle room before it gets heavy," said Sean as he tossed them the guards' guns.

"Not until we get Riza and Winry," said Roy as he started to walk for the door leading to the left wing, but Sean stopped him.

"No I can go through without question and I know my way around this place, leave it to me," said Sean as he walked through the door and then made his way past two guards who were none the wiser of his intentions.

When he finally got down to where Winry and Riza were being held he saw that they were tied up for interrogation as it seemed that they had been discovered with something. The object was a small transmitter for decoding and sending secret messages and was no doubt a gift from the very thoughtful yet careless Vashov. He looked to see who was scheduled to take control of this interrogation and he wasn't surprised to see Guile's name on the roster, it was probably the most favorable opportubity. Sean walked into the room while debating mentally what he should do to help them, but as soon as he was thinking, Guile was coming down the hallway with guards by his side. There were five and with Guile's skills Sean knew he wouldn't be walking away alive from any confrontation so he had to think of something else. He reached into his pocket to see what he had and his hands touched the cool metal of a knife that he kept as a wild card.

"What exactly are you doing here," asked Guile as he narrowed his eyes at the mercenary who only returned the menacing look with a solid cold stare of his own, the two had a bit of a rivalry that was bitter to say the least.

"I was just coming down here to see that my kindness to them has been taken advantage of," said Sean as he made his way to Riza and thank god that the person had put her arms in front of her so that when he punched her he could easily slip the knife into her ropes.

"You bastard," spat Riza trying to sound pained as she felt the knife in her ropes.

"I think I should go check up on anything else that Dante would want of me," said Sean as he walked towards the door and then pretended like he was receiving a transmission from someone. "Report your status! Come in! Damn it! Guile I need to borrow some of your men!"

"Take them all, I like to do this alone," said Guile arrogantly as he took his main officers coat off to reveal his tank top and his horribly scarred arms that made most of the troops go white when they saw it. "This art of mine is something that can only be enjoyed by men such as you and me, but we know that I do not like an audience that doesn't appreciate this art. Really, we both know each other so why do you have to ask, just take the little shytes and go."

"Okay then," said Sean as he motioned for the men to follow and walked off with the men.

* * *

Riza waited while Guile went through cleaning his tools with a sick grin on his face from the delight of using his precious tools, the things he cared about most in his life. Sadism is always linked to something in a person's life and Guile's was linked to a dead wife, killed as a casualty of war. He took it hard and all those Ishvalans that he caught were the ones whom he took his anger out on, his tortures becoming the weights in his mind to make him the cold cruel man he was now. Over the time he had collected so many devices of torture and his tactics were being made with cruel hearted efficiency that soon led to his reputation for being somewhat bloody.

"You see this art is one of patience and also one in which the victim becomes closer to the aggressor," said Guile as cleaned one of his knives and placed back on the counter right next to the pair of tweezers that he would most definitely use to cut off her fingers or remove her teeth. "First I'm going to beat you around a little bit, just to, you know, build up the tension in the moment and let it all come to a rise before I get started with the actual work. Then I'm going to use these small needles in my hand with my fist so I can hit key points and send some plie on it to send electricity through your body, a nice way to follow up to a beating if I do say so myself. Then if you're not talking after that then I can see where we are on our feelings to get into the real nasty stuff and to tell you the truth Riza, I want you to be very difficult because I am sure that will be most fun."

As he continued going on about each tool and what it's properties were, Riza was cutting her way out of her bonds, going slowly to make sure that he didn't hear the knife cutting through the material. Winry saw her and started asking questions to lengthen the process of his explanation even though it was risky since he could turn around to address her. When Riza had finally cut through the last of her ropes she went for Wirny's ropes, cutting as fast a she wanted since Guile was too caught up in his own reminiscing. She was almost done when he stopped talking and turned around, causing Riza to reflexively stab him, but he was quick enough to move so that it only stabbed his shoulder. Knowing that he wouldn't die from it, Riza put the knife into his mouth and cut the corner of his mouth open before running off.

"You bitch," cursed Guile as he crawled on the ground and tried to go after Riza, but was held up by attendants who wanted to have his wounds treated.

* * *

Sean had just shot the man whom he thought was running the show, but as soon as he saw the lack of security, he came to a realization of sorts. Number one, Dante had never fully trusted him, which being apparent from the guards who he found out had been trailing him throughout the complex. Number two, because Dante had never trusted him she had never shown him the real leader of the Philosophers, but the man he had killed was not the leader. He was merely a figure a head that was put in place, the true leader has always been Colonel Guile Stryker.

The odds were against Sean again as he was immediately surrounded by the guards and Dante was once staring at him with her green eyes. The body she had stolen for herself had green eyes and she was now in control of the matter with the soldiers at her beck and call so that Sean was outnumbered and with Dante he knew he wouldn't live. He threw down his guns and put his hands up as Dante sent her men out to restrain him and as soon he turned his head he was hit on the back of the head knocking him out.

* * *

"Roy," shouted Riza as she ran over to hug him, tears of joy streaming from his eye and then she felt his warm arms wrap around him as Havoc and Breda led troops to take over the base, blasting through most of the enemy soldiers who were caught unaware.

"General Roy, we have taken over half of the base, but we've found no sign of Stryker or Sean," said Havoc as he pulled his cigarette out of his mouth when Riza came into his line of vision. "We think that, from one of the reports it seems that Guile got away with Dante and that…."

"What is it, where is Sean," asked Ed as he looked at Havoc seriously, a fire burning behind his brain.

"Sean has been captured by the enmy and is with them," said havoc as he bowed his head a bit. "The only thing we can do is hope that the tracking device Iristeis gave him is implanted somewhere hidden."

"I want you to start tracking it," ordered Roy as he started marching and barking orders. "We are not leaving one of our men behind for the enemy!"


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Final Front

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or the characters.

* * *

Ed paced around the smooth wooden floor of his private quarters as he felt a sudden breeze on the back of his neck from the window that he forgot he left open a few days ago. The rain from outside was getting in, spraying the desk and the papers on it with cold water, but most of the papers were unfinished theories on what Dante was planning from the splintered information retrieved from the complex. It had been twenty days since they had escaped the complex with the help of Sean, who, ironically, captured by the same people that he had saved them from. He felt a pain of guilt that he had not trusted Sean when he should have. That night was another one of the frequently occurring nights where he would just start writing things down that he would put through so many levels of speculation that he would become enraged by this and would destroy some random object of furniture, much to the annoyance of Winry and Alphonse, who sharing the hotel with him. It was a small hotel that was used when officers wanted to be able to be on standby and wanted to be inconspicuous. The innkeeper of the hotel was a small fellow who would be moving around the hotel, cleaning and fixing things around the hotel. It was like visiting a forgotten relative.

"Could you please stop doing that," asked Winry as she kept up with writing the schematics to an automail arm that she was thinking about entering into the automail mechanic competition if there was still one when it was all over.

"I'm just trying to think if I there is a possibility that I haven't been seeing," replied Edward as he continued to pace around the room, still in his full uniform despite the fact that it was almost midnight. "There has to be something that I haven't seen or something that must have been overlooked, something that could tell me where Dante has Sean locked up at."

"Ed, everyone is on this as well and they haven't been able to come up with anything," said Winry as she walked up to Ed and pushed him back into a chair so that he could relax for once and maybe fall asleep while he was at it. "They won't flat out kill Sean, he is too great a mercenary for them to do that and Dante doesn't have the Philosopher's stone so we can easily assume that she is almost running out of time and will try to gain as many lives as she can."

"But there haven't been that many deaths so far and we have yet to find a massive installation of bodies in our military fort system," said Ed as he put his hand to forehead in a bit of annoyance, but he still wished to try and go over it in his mind. "All Ishvalan camps have been put under surveillance and if anyone has been trying to do such a thing we would have easily linked it back to Dante."

"Ed, it wasn't your fault that Sean was captured, I know he doesn't blame you for anything," said Winry softly as she stared into his eyes and noticed how close their faces were to each other. They were close enough to feel each other's hot breath on their lips. "You will find him and rescue him, that you can always count on."

"Sometimes I really doubt that I can do such a thing," said Ed as he got up out of his seat and went to go down to the kitchen where he would get another cup of coffee, but Winry stopped him from moving another inch. "Winry, please there is something that I have to do."

"There…is…also something that….I must do," said Winry a bit nervously as the makings of a blush spread across her face and then she did something she hadn't intended to do, but she heard Sean's words in her head. She let him know how he felt. She pressed her lips against his own lips not really knowing what to do but just moving on instinct.

"Winry, what were you doing," asked Ed as he pulled away from it and he could see that Winry had her eyes shut as if she was straining herself from saying something.

"Like you don't know that I love you," shouted Winry before she ran out of the room leaving Ed standing there, a bit dazed from the events that had just taken place, but still having a bit of consciousness.

"Winry, wait a second," called Ed as he ran after her and jumped down the stairs to stop her from leaving the hotel, his heavy boots making a slight indent into the pavement.

"What is it that you want," asked Winry as she turned to him with tears streaming down from her eyes and sobbing a bit. "I love you, but you're so caught up in everything else that you wouldn't even bother to realize me, just like Sean said, but I guess he was wrong about you listening when I told you the truth!"

"Winry, how long have you felt this way," asked Ed as he looked down a bit in shame at the realization that he had reflexively pushed Winry away because he knew it would leave him vulnerable, a thing that he never wished to be.

"Ever since we were little kids I had a crush on you and over the years I began to admire you for your strength until I finally realized that I love you," replied Winry as she held her head in her hands at to stop the tears from flowing out all over the floor.

"You know I always did have a crush on you when we were kids as well, even though I tried to hide it," said Ed slowly as he walked towards her and lifted her chin up with his hand. "I've always had something after another that I just dive into to stop myself from realizing that I was in love with you as well. I'm sorry for being a stubborn ass, if you don't mind, could you forgive me?"

"Yes, I can always forgive you," said Winry with a smile as she kissed him on the lips again and she felt him return the kiss with a passion. They were interrupted from having a second kiss as there was a slight coughing noise and the couple turned to see Roy sitting in a chair with Riza right next to him.

"Sorry if I'm interrupting something," said Roy as he gave a slight smirk that only Ed caught as he looked at him. "If you wish we can go get the priest if you two wish."

"Well thanks, but I think it would be a long time for us waiting for you to be done with him General Roy," said Ed as he tried to regain his cool, but it was a bit hard when Roy and Riza were both chuckling in his face.

"Actually its Fuhrer now, I'm being confirmed later, but right now I am in control of every military officer," said Roy as he sat back in his chair and motioned for Riza to hand Ed a folder filled with maps. "We have managed to get a fix on his tracking device and are now looking into a plan to lead a rescue mission into the complex and the capture or kill of Dante and Guile. I figured that you might want to go along with the group I'm sending in since he is your friend after all."

"So when exactly are we going," asked Ed as he looked at the paper and he got this look of shock that was from a discovery that Roy's analysis team must have missed. "This is the same markings to try and make a Philosopher's stone!"

"What would be the use of that, she can't possible have the right amount of lives to form that," asked Roy as he took the picture out of Ed's hands and looked at it.

"We don't know that she lacks the lives, we only assumed because we haven't found any evidence to suggest such a thing," replied Ed as he started getting his coat. "Dante may want to take another body or do so many other things with the stone, but regardless of what she has planned we must stop her for good."

"Right I will have my team ready to go in five hours and would like you to accompany it," said Roy as he picked up the phone and started making the necessary calls for such an operation with Ed and Alphonse, who was a bit grumpy from being woken up, getting ready to go. "Okay, there is a team already in there to help with sabotage led by Iristeis! You'll be going in with Breda and Havoc as your second in commands and you will also be given a radio man to call in any reinforcements!"

"Understood," said Ed as he walked towards the door before turning to Winry and added, "We'll talk more about this later."

"Have a safe drive, Riza," called Roy as he started to call for another driver to his office building, turning to see the affectionate smile that Riza gave him before she drove off.

* * *

"You know it seems like that car behind us has been following for a while," said Ed as he looked in the rearview mirror of the car and started to notice that their speed had increased since the last ten minutes.

"I've been aware of that for some time now, Ed," said Riza as she tried to swerve a bit more between cars, but at the middle of the night there were only three other cars on the road, not enough to lose another car that was doing the same speed.

"I think that person is signaling to us," said Al as he pointed in the rearview mirror at the person who was pointing in a certain direction. "Do you think we should go along with them or should we act like we don't see it?"

"It's Vashov," exclaimed Riza as she recognized the face under the shadow of the fedora and then decided to turn in the direction he was pointing at, causing both Elric brothers to hit the windows on their side. "Buckle up you two; it's dangerous for you to not have some form of safety harness."

"We did have them on," replied both of them while holding their cheeks and they only got out when she stopped the car.

"Okay Vashov, what news do you have to give after going into hiding for twenty days," asked Riza as she sat against the car with her hand close to her gun holster.

"Roy is taking their bait and I wanted to help him off the hook," replied Vashov as he got out of the car, his military uniform still the same color of red. "Sean isn't being held there and the mark is just a bluff."

"Then where are they," asked Riza in frustration and she was answered by a large explosion off in the distance.

"They are here right now," replied Vashov.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Counterstrike

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or the characters of said franchise.

* * *

Waking up in the morning meant that he would have to wake up when they rang the bell or else they would come in and beat him around a bit before dragging him to morning exercise. After that he would have the small breakfast that they supplied and was then taken for his daily session of being offered some position in Dante and Guile's army, but he would decline as always, forcing them to put him into labor so as to break him. Most of the guards were wary of him because of how the skill he displayed in the escape of Edward Elric and Roy Mustang, a thing that had put him in the hatred of most troops since it was helping their greatest enemies escape. He'd manage to fuck up their army so worse that they had to avoid battle with the main military or else be destroyed so when it came time for his daily breaking they got sadistic. The worse person was of course, Guile, who had long since been declared leader and worked his troops around the clock to plan for a surprise attack on Roy's troops. Guile was still pissed at Sean for what happened to him, which Sean was glad had even if Guile was still alive to cause torment to other people, mainly him.

This morning was a bit different though, as Sean was not woken up at his usual time of 4:30 A. M. Sean had become so accustomed to this that he slept early to rise early and found a way to get the necessary sleep out of the work day by being rendered unconscious from the beating. He was damn glad that Dante still wanted him alive for some reason, even though she had long since passed on that offer. _This is probably the day when they finally take me outside and put me in front of a firing squad_, sighed Sean as he went back to sleep and decided on trying to fight, despite being kept in chains. The weight of the chains had been adjusted to limit his maneuverability to a degree that he could do some tasks, but slowed him down enough to prevent him from trying to assault one of the guards. _What I wouldn't give __to have been an alchemist._ His prayers seemed to be answered as the door was blown open from the outside and in stepped the only friend he had left, Edward Elric.

"Hey, aren't you a sight for sore eyes," said Sean weakly as he moved to get up but was stopped by Al while Ed worked with his chains to get him out.

"I'm sorry for taking so long," said Ed as he handed Sean a canteen filled with something that soldiers were given to help regain their strength, but it was only half of what Sean needed after his days in prison. "We have to get a move on so we can get in the fight against Dante, you in?"

"Doesn't matter I'll need a ride out," said Sean as he started moving for the door and was helped out by Ed and Al who placed him into the military vehicle Riza had secured. "Just drive to wherever and I'll tell you if I'm in or not."

"Well right now Dante has launched an all out assault on the city with Roy's troops out looking for their base we were caught unaware," said Riza as she drove through the rubble and crowds of evacuees, who were being moved in case the fight spread. "Right now Roy is running things from the command center while our soldiers are successfully fighting the Philosopher forces in the streets. Thanks to Vashov, who is helping us out by giving us heads up on any attacks and is doing his part in the fighting, we have been able to tell the location of Dante's base, which is where you were. Unfortunately, neither Dante nor Guile was there."

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask you, but why did you let Guile live," asked Sean as he looked out the window a bit tiredly before taking another swig of the canteen he had found in the truck, only it just had water in it. "I gave you the knife so that you could kill Guile, not just mess him up and piss him off more."

"I thought I had managed to do enough cutting so that he would bleed to death and give him enough suffering," said Riza as she drove on towards the front where they were planning on giving the enemy one last push to clear up the evacuation roads. "I'm sorry I let him live I didn't know it could come back to bite me in the ass like this."

"I didn't know giving you a knife would bite me in the ass like it did when I was being tortured by the bastard," said Sean as he placed his hand on an old wound and then looked at the clothes Edward was holding out.

"Thought you could use these, whether you help us or not," said Ed as he handed Sean his usual outfit of a white dress shirt, black vest, and black slacks. "We have your leather gloves procured from the box which they placed them in, along with the lugers."

"Yeah, thanks," said Sean as he started to place his outfit on in the truck, closing the flap so he could give himself at least some privacy. "Anyway, you are looking for her at the wrong place, I anything she would be planning on attacking Roy at this moment."

"The Philosopher's stone is as well guarded as the base was," said Riza as she took a turn down one street and wondered why she did so since that street would only lead them towards the command center. "I doubt Dante would try making such a bold move when her army has taken such a crippling blow and is in the biggest fight of this whole war."

"Right now Roy is relaxing himself too much and is focusing on helping everybody but himself and his chain of command," said Sean as he loaded the two guns. "Guile and Dante are after the stone and will use all means to do such a thing such as send their troops on a run towards the civilians causing Roy to order protection."

"Such a move would be very risky, but I doubt Dante wouldn't do it because she still has some of her own power," said Ed as he leaned back in his chair and thought on it.

The radio then flickered on with the sound of Havoc shouting, "Attack on the command center, we need troops down here right now to provide assistance in repelling an attack on the command center!"

Riza slammed her foot on the gas pedal as she sped towards the command center, praying that it wasn't as bad as she thought it was. _Please don't be dead, Roy, I don't think I can bare losing you again_, cried Riza inside herself as she tried hard to fight her face from mimicking the thoughts of her heart. She looked back at Ed who gave a nod and then looked at his brother who gave him a nod in return. That was two others to help in the attack and then she looked towards the unknown person fo the group, the lone wolf who could either join with the pack or go off. For the first time, Riza actually felt like she needed to have Sean on her side, despite the fact that he was a soldier who went to the highest bidder.

"Please Sean, we need someone with your talents to help us in this," pleaded Riza as she looked at him, putting a little bit of emotion into it to show how serious she was.

"You never had to ask about it, I'm in this to get revenge on that bastard," said Sean as he started prepping the guns that they had handy on them inside the truck. "Plus I'm sure that Vashov will also be there to give us a hand with Dante, but I believe that she's Ed's opponent."

"So just who is your opponent," asked Ed as he looked at his friend.

"We are both good friends, Ed, my opponent is your opponent, just tell me who you hate and I will help you kill them," replied Sean.

* * *

"PROVIDE SURPRESSING FIRE," ordered Havoc at the top of his lungs towards the troops that were still there so that Breda could have the cover he needed to get close and throw a hand grenade into the enemy formation. Some realized that the grenade had been thrown and scattered, but others didn't realize it till it was too late and were blown up as a result. "Alright, fire team one get into position while fire team 2 covers you and then prepare to provide fire teams 2 march forward. We'll trade off till we corner the enemy and provide a clear path to the Fuhrer."

"Havoc, we're on the third floor and Roy is all the way on the seventh floor," said Breda as he looked at his friend and Havoc only nodded that he knew.

"This isn't a matter of try or don't try, we either fight back to help our Fuhrer or we surrender right here and now," declared Havoc as he shot at the troops that moved a bit. "They seem to be breaking formation and could be on a possible charge at us, get ready for defensive fire!"

To his surprise however most of the men were running for a hand that being created out of the material of the floor and realized that this was one of the trademark tricks used by Edward Elric. He let out a sigh of relief as he saw Riza come from the door leading to the stairs and fired at the man who seemed to be a major of the group, hitting him square in the jaw. This was followed by Sean, who jumped in between the returning fire of the enemy and when the firing ended jumped up to gun down a few enemies before jumping away from the rifle discharge of a group of troops. He set a bit of wire into his hand which he threw out and twisted it so that it wrapped around the troops. With a pull of his hand he was able to cut down the troops and give enough incentive for the remaining troops to give up.

"Finally we get some relief in here, I was worried that we might be getting no relief," said Havoc as he got up and walked over to salute Riza and then shake Sean's hand. "We had heard that you had been captured and feared that they might have killed you, but I guess you have a few lives left."

"I think I only have two lives left if I remember correctly," laughed Sean before pointing towards the door leading to the upstairs. "How many enemy troops went up?"

"Let's see, I'd say about thirty, but they split up between Dante and Guile," replied Havoc, still standing at attention. "Guile is going after Roy while Dante is going for the Philosopher's stone. From all reports we believe that everyone, even Vashov, is going to have a tough time getting here so all we have right now is twenty men."

"That's plenty," said Riza as she cocked her gun and then looked at Ed. "You can take Dante while I go after Roy."

"Okay, but Sean go back her up, Alphonse and I can take care of Dante," said Ed before he ran off.

"I still don't see how he figured out which direction Dante went," said Havoc as he looked at the young alchemist and then turned to see Sean and Riza running off in the other direction.

"I think they must have better sense than us," said Breda before he questioned his last words. "Or maybe it's a lack of sense that gives them the traits we are lacking in."

"Either way we got to back up both of them so you can go after Ed while I go after Riza," said Havoc as he took ten men and had them follow him into the fight.


	21. Chapter 21

* * *

Chapter 21: Final Confrontation

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or the characters of said franchise.

* * *

The scent of a smoking mixed with the all familiar smell of blood and death, the smell of home to a mercenary like Sean, who could feel the adrenaline rushing in his brain just at the sheer smell of war. It was obvious that he had been from the battlefield too long, but it was unnoticeable by the way he moved up the stairs, taking great precaution to check his corners before proceeding onwards. Riza was, at the moment, a bit impatient from wanting to make sure that Roy was safe, yet she still wanted to make sure to be as professional as possible so she took point and had Sean keep a check on the corners. She couldn't help but compare his habits to that of a teacher she had once had who desired perfection out of anything and as such was known as the "Great Slug" for his slowness of getting into the fight because of it. The mercenary she was sending into combat, however, moved at a good pace that was only hampered by his flaw to know whatever situation was occurring in its fullest detail. Sometimes she just wanted to move him along with a pitchfork, but she hadn't the time to act on her many rage fueled fantasies.

"Okay, this floor is clear, now move out," barked Riza, which Sean complied with immediately, slipping into a covering position by the stairs leading up and just as he was about to go one of the enemy troops popped out and fired upon him.

The bullet cut his right cheek and didn't hamper his returning fire in the slightest bit as he raised the luger in his right hand and let out a single shot that hit the trooper square in the head, splattering his brains across the white wall. Havoc then led other troops up to give Sean and Riza covering fire as they ran up the stairs into the enemy lines. Riza ducked down half way to give Sean more covering fire since she was the best shot and as soon as Sean reached the enemy line he pointed both of his pistols at two troops and gunned them down before kicking one in the chest while pulling the gun on the other one. He waited for Havoc and his men to come and secure the two troopers before proceeding down the hallway of the floor, checking each corner. As soon as they had reached halfway down the hallway, an explosion rang out from above their heads.

"He's right above us," shouted Riza as she started running down the hallway and then back up the stairs, followed closely by Sean, who was pulling his wire out.

"Hey, wait up," called Havoc as he organized his men to follow him as they chase Riza ans Sean, but as soon as the two passed the steps and turned, a group of soldiers showed up and cut the line, isolating Riza and Sean from Havoc's troops. "Ah shit, prepare to give covering fire! We are going to catch up! Now!"

Sean ran down the corridor with Riza covering him with her own rifle as he made his way to the next door and then started providing covering fire for her as she ran to the next door, kicking down the soldier who was already in it. Sean then started running literally along the wall a bit, using his acrobatic skills and agility to run along the wall and side step the bullets while causing the soldiers to fire at the wall. There were only three of them, seeing as how they were over stretched and the others were being used to keep them isolated from the rest of the group. As soon as Sean jumped behind them and pointed his duel Lugers at the trio he felt something hot cut into his right arm. A warm liquid sprayed on his face as he soon saw that Guile was there and instantly realized that his right arm was on the floor in front of him instead of attached to his right shoulder. Riza shouted over the hail of gun fire that was occurring, but Sean was in a daze at the loss of one of the arms he put so much pride into it, almost a bit confused at the whole situation despite the evidence in front of him. Guile used this to his advantage to pick Sean up and slam him against the wall repeatedly before throwing him onto the ground and then kicked him in the stomach, just a few centimeters from his navel. The fire sword that was the trademark of Guile was raised over Guile's head as he picked up Sean and placed him in front of a window, ready to use the sword to knock him through, but before Guile could ever attempt it, a ball of fire hit him in the face. At the same time he reflexively pushed Sean right through the window, the glass shards digging a bit into his back and a few flying by and cutting both his ear and neck. Right before he left the window sill completely, Sean tossed the one grenade he had left, hoping to do something before he died.

"Hmm," said Guile as he saw the grenade and right before it blew up ducked back, but was unable to escape the full affect as some pieces of shrapnel hit him in the chest causing him to grunt in pain. He ignored the pain a bit and turned to the alchemist who had sent that burst of fire into his face. "Well then Roy, I've finally gotten you out of that little hole have I?"

"I think this is the time in which we can finish this," said Roy as he had his officer's sword out as well, always carrying it by his side after his fight with Bradley. He had also recently placed a saw blade on it so when the two swords collided, Roy's sword was set aflame as well.

"Well met, Flame Alchemist," said Guile as he raised his sword and went into full charge, swinging around wildly so that the flames would make his movements a bit fuzzy to the enemy by the smoke. Roy finally understood the truth behind Guile's swordsmanship and that was that Guile was very undisciplined as a swordsman, but made up for it by setting his flame on fire and using it to intimidate his opponents.

"I now see you for what you are," said Roy as he pointed his sword at Guile and then he charged Guile who came in for a large attack, but Roy side stepped it and attacked Guile. "You don't have any skills whatsoever and are trying to make up for it by inspiring fear in your enemies, but as long as our swords are the same you have nothing."

As soon as Roy did this, however, there was an explosion that racked the entire HQ and sent both men to the floor, which their swords happened to burn through, causing them to collapse to the ground. They both gained consciousness at the same time, but luckily, Roy was able to focus more since he had one eye. Both men lunged at each other and Roy was able to grab Guile's hand and thrust his own sword into Guile's stomach. He held it in there until Guile finally went limp and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Roy finally rolled over and breathed a sigh of relief as Riza ran over to him, shouting his name as his eyes got heavier.

* * *

"Is that all you got," taunted Edward Elric as he stood behind a corner for cover and then looked at his brother who was right across from him. "There are two on one and those soldiers will be in here any second now."

He had tried getting close enough to attack Dante since he knew that the body she had was no match for his own automail arm and leg, but she had managed to keep him at a distance with spikes from the ground. He was surprised that she didn't try a transmutation circle on him, but he doubted that she thought much of him now that she had the Philosopher's stone in her grasp. With a clap of his hands, Eric brought up a cannon in the ground, using the rifles that he got from the fallen soldiers to make it, but he only had enough for two shots, since he needed metal for the cannon. The first metallic ball was caught by a massive hand that was made from the concrete of the battlements. The second burst right through and came close to hitting Dante who moved away at the right moment and turned in time to dodge Edward's punch. A smirk spread across her face as she started the transmutation circle and was using the Philosopher's stone to power up the alchemy and would have encased Edward in the concrete if a bullet hadn't knocked the stone out of her hand. Dante turned her head to see a grinning Vashov holding a smoking gun in his right hand while Lust used her longer finger nails to snatch the stone out of her grasp.

"Go ahead and give up already," said Edward as he stood before her with the knife in his automail arm extended and Dante just laughed.

"I do hat to say this because it sounds so idiotic and cliché, but you'll never take ma live," laughed Dante as the very same concrete that she tried to encase the elder Elric brother in wrapped around her, leaving her as nothing but a statue.

"That's the end of that bit then, but I'm just worried about the rest of the threat," said Edward as he started running only to be stopped by Vashov's grip.

"No need to tire yourself out, Guile is dead and Roy's alive," said Vashov as he let go of edward's arm and then sighed as he added, "But Sean has been gravely injured and it is unknown if he is alive or dead, all we know is that he went through the window out the window of the seventh floor with his right arm missing."

"Come on then we have to go find him then," exclaimed Edward as he ran, but was once again stopped by Vashov who gave him an all too serious look.

"Edward, even for Sean it is highly doubtful that he is alive," said Vashov as he made his way for the door. "What we should be worrying with now is how we are going to help any of those trapped in the wreckage and see if they will need help."

"Sorry, but I'm not going to let a good friend die like that," said Ed as he ran on. _I cannot accept that Sean would die! He can't die after all that he's done! Where is his reward in all of this?_ Ed ran as far as he could until his own automail gave out from the strain and he looked and saw Sean lying there in a pool of his own blood, smiling at Ed.

"Careful there Ed, don't hurt yourself," said Sean before passing out from blood loss.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22: The End of this Story

Disclaimer: I do not own FMA, but I do own characters that are not in any anime episodes, movies, or mangas associated with FMA.

* * *

The final screw in the socket was the mark of the end of the operation, a stamp on a job well done for Winry Rockbell as she wiped the sweat from her brow. Her grandmother, Pinako, would have been so proud of her if she could see her right now, but Pinako was in a better place having passed on two years ago. Winry took it on herself to improve her skills, both medically and mechanically, to make her grandmother proud of her. This of course led to some sleepless nights like the ones she had just been having, but at least she wasn't alone as the person who had the operation took great interest in the making of the arm. It was great to have someone to help her, but the person could only lend one arm and had lost both his legs, which she had to make replacements for. After the man cleared his throat to get her to release the straps that were holding his body down so that he wouldn't thrash around. Surprisingly, he was not prone to moving around like most people who underwent the painful surgery and he acted as if he wasn't feeling anything that Winry was doing to him, almost as if he was numb to the pain.

"Well you have got to be the best patient I ever had," declared Winry as she helped him up from the bed and then gave the blond a mirror for him to see himself in. "Well, did I do a good job?"

"Yeah," replied the blond as he looked at himself in the mirror and took a look at his new automail arms, flexing them to get a feel for them before trying to do a flip but wound up hitting the bed as it was his first experience of moving with something other than his arms.

"You shouldn't be doing that, it's a very new experience to you," said Winry as she helped him back down to the bed. "You know that your own wounds are also still healing so there is a chance you might open your own wounds doing that shit too."

"By the way, was that you singing when I was being cut sown back up," asked the blond as he looked up at he and he saw that there was a blush spreading across her face as he said that.

"Yeah, so what about it," replied Winry as she turned away and started looking through the deck of cards that he kept with him that had strange symbols on them, including a picture of man with one eye.

"You sing off key," said the blond as he lay in bed and immediately felt something hit him in the forehead like a hammer and cards scattered everywhere.

"You never do change, Sean, but I guess it would be weird if it any other way," said Winry as she walked off to check on Ed who was outside waiting. "So who are you waiting for, me or Sean?"

"You of course," replied Ed as he kissed her on the lips when he hugged her and then stroked her hair. "It's finally the end of it all, it's really hard to believe that I've gotten everything I wanted."

"Yes it is, but I'm not complaining one bit about that," said Winry and she noticed that Ed had something in his pocket that looked like the bulge of a box, a ring box. "Ed, what is that for?"

"Oh yeah, Riza gave me some cookies for being on time with my report," said Ed as he brought out a small box that was a lot larger than it looked form the bulge, and had the "cookies" that Riza gave to Ed. Unfortunately, she never mentioned that she also gave some cookies to Black Hayate for doing good and she didn't tell him that she had been doing that long before Ed had ever discovered the cookies. "These are really good, do you want one?"

"No thanks," replied Winry as she gave him and apologetic, but somehow nervous smile. _Oh god why do I not just tel__l him that those are dog treats…p__robably because __Riza__ told me not to and she might pull a gun on me if I do say anything about it._

"Well anyway, I got to go now and deliver a report to the Furhrer," said Ed as he walked towards the door, but turned back to say, "I love you."

"I love you to," said Winry. _So much._

"I'm going to throw up, where is the bucket," announced Sean from inside in his sarcastic manner and was then surprised by the sudden appearance of Winry by his bed sideholding what appeared to be a wrench and a screw driver. "Hello there Winry."

* * *

Roy looked at the resignation on his desks for the first time that day and he looked at the name expecting to see Ed or Vashov, both of whom had no further use for the military, but the name on the paper was neither of the two above mentioned officers. He saw that one "Riza Hawkeye" had turned in her resignation as General and under reason she wrote "personal matters of the heart." _Personal matters?__ Has she found someone else or could it be that someone is blackmailing her?_ The questions raced in his mind as he thought of the office without Riza walking around in to remind him of his duty and the paperwork on his desk. It was the scariest thought ever in his mind for he thought that Riza only kept her office to make sure that he did all of his paperwork. Someone opened the door to his office and he saw Riza step in, dressed in civilian clothes that he had never seen her in and smiling at him as she walked over towards him.

"Riza, why are you leaving this office," asked Roy as he looked at her choice of outfit, which consisted of a blue dress that was cut out to the side in a style that he had become familiar with as the style of the people of the east. It did well to show off her nice toned legs and it was sleeveless with a thing sash that showed off her figure very well as it hugged her body. "Riza…?"

"Didn't you read my letter of resignation," asked Riza as she walked closer to Roy and for the first time, the Player, as he called himself, was finding himself hard to make a move on an attractive woman. "I resigned because I couldn't stand being nothing but your general, so now I am not bound by any policies that keep me from being with you."

"And you came dressed like that because?"

"I thought there would be some good uses for it, like seeing how you reacted when I wore it," replied Riza casually when the Riza he knew or thought he knew would have never said anything like that.

"Are there any words that you would like to say as well that you couldn't say before," asked Roy as he looked at Riza with a smirk on his face.

"I love you Roy."

"I love you to Riza."

Roy had his head down on the desk and looked at the stack of paper work that was right next to him contemplating. _To burn or not to burn, that is the question._ He played with the idea but then Ed would have to write his report again along with other reports and it would cause a possible uprising or be the start to it. The road to bringing justice to the world was far harder than he had expected, but it was one that he had promised himself he would make. He owed it to all the men and women he had killed and the men and women who had been killed to put him there. That was the blood debt that he had and he would always uphold the blood debt. _I just wish someone would have told me about all the god damn paper work that I would have to do for this!_ Roy raised his hadn in preparation to set them on fire, but as soon as he did that he heard the hammer of a gun being pulled back and he looked to see Riza standing there.

"Just what exactly were you planning to do there Fuhrer," asked Riza as she pointed her gun at him in the usual threatening manner that she had when he tried to do something like that. "You never change do you, Roy?"

"You're one to talk, my gun toting angel," said Roy as he walked up towards her and used his left hand to move the gun away while using his right to cup her cheek. "So how is Sean doing in his command? I still don't know how you got him to accept a commission into the army when I couldn't pay him the usual amount that he charges for a job."

"I was able to ask Iristeis to help me influence his opinion and I used some of my own brand of persuasion," replied Riza passively, which made Roy worry because the only two persuasion techniques he knew were by gun and the other by…well use your imagination. He didn't want the first option for Sean because he still felt bad about giving Sean his facial scar while he also didn't want the other one because he wanted Riza all to himself.

"Just what exactly did you do to him," asked Roy a bit nervously.

"I gave him some money from the business I run and I gave him a chair on the board for a nice little bonus," said Riza as she sat back in her chair. "So, how do we pass the time until your lunch period?"

"I have an idea," said Roy with a smirk and that look in his eye that Riza knew all too well.

"You never change do you?"

"Would you want me any other way?"

"No, I love you just like that."

"And I love you, just as you are."


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Last Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or the characters of anime/manga. For those who like my writing, please read some of my others and don't forget to check out my Silent Hill fan fic.

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Edward looked over at the sleeping colonel who was sitting back in his chair, his shiny black boots put up on the desk, and his thoughts towards something that probably made no sense. Dreams were the art of the mind and as such, it only made sense to those who put sense into it and from what Edward understood, the colonel never understood that. It had been some time since Edward had been promoted to general and won so many awards that he didn't want to pin them up on his coat in fear that he would develop a bad back problem. Alphonse was assigned to being a brigadier general two months ago and Edward was a general who looked over the army of the east alongside the other generals, but he was more of an eccentric, going after one Alchemic abnormality after the other. Most things were peaceful except for a few remains of the Philosophers, but they weren't that much of a threat. The destruction of the Philosophers did have the affect of causing a surge in alchemists and keeping each Alchemist in control was a problem, especially when some of them were possible Philosophers members.

"Colonel Stryker, is that any way for you to be at attention at this time in the afternoon," barked Edward and he nearly broke out laughing when he saw Sean nearly fall from his chair as he struggled to snap to attention. "At ease, Sean, you don't have to be so stiff when it's me, but with everyone else you might want to be at attention at all times."

"Yeah I know, I just thought there would be a few things I would be doing instead of just sitting here and watching my legs rust," said Sean with a yawn and he laid back while pulling out a book and started to read it while talking to Ed. "I just have a bit of a problem with doing nothing, that's not what I was hired for, I was hired to take care of military things, in peace I don't know what to do."

"Well you can try and get to know everyone under your command, plan ways to increase the quality of our troops," said Ed as he picked up a pen and started rewriting the equations that were on the board with his own and he noticed that Sean was focused on his right hand. "I've been looking up on attaching or remaking body parts, but it appears that wherever Vahov and Lust disappeared to they took the Philosopher's stone with them so I can't do any of those things."

"It's just as well, there will never be another human arm that is like mine so I might as well protect the last real limb I have," said Sean with a bit of lament in his voice and he walked over to the coffee pot to pour himself a cup of coffee. He had lost his legs when he was thrown out of the window and landed legs first onto the pavement, breaking both of them so badly that they would never heal enough to be at full capacity so he made the tough decision of removing them and having them replaced with automail legs. "It doesn't matter anyway, I'm living comfortably with a nice living space and I guess I can learn to enjoy the peace."

"I'm sorry that I can't really do anything about that after you saved my life and suffered for it. It seems like you have been suffering, but at the same time you help me so I have to suffer and getting nothing in return for it. Where is the equivalent exchange in all of that?"

"I'm going to be going to the opera tonight with Iristeis and then dinner," said Sean as he put his book down and looked at the time. "Would you like to join us with Winry, General?"

"Yes, thank you," said Edward a bit softly, but cheerful none the less.

"Good because you're paying," said Sean as he walked out of the door with his coat in his hand and then popped his head back in to add, "There is your equivalent exchange."

"What," choked Edward as the shock had forced a gulp of hot coffee down his throat.

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The way the sun looked over the horizon as it set reminded Roy of the night that he and Riza first made love in that tent that was so safe, as if blocked out the war that was happening on the outside. He took a drink of his whiskey and continued talking to his good friend Hughes, who was just like the Hughes of his world, with the very same knack for making pictures of his daughter and it was good that he was alive again. Hughes had married the wife of the late Hughes and many people wandered if he had just been MIA the whole time. Trying to cover the gate part up was his concern and he had to stop the gate from being used like it was last, he just couldn't allow another army to come in like that, it was the worst time for all of that shit. Roy's mind kept slipping to another thought or another thing that developed, the relationship between him and Riza, the ever growing bond that they had was cemented in a passionate night. He could still remember every single last detail from that moment, from the feel of her as he penetrated her and the way her mouth felt on his neck. It was enough to make him very uncomfortable in his seat, but he managed to hide that last one from Hughes, who was too busy jabbering on about his daughter and wife.

"Dinner is finally ready after a few accidents," said Gracia as she brushed her hand against her apron before removing it and Roy immediately noticed some black markings on the apron and the faint smell of something burnt.

"I hope Riza is okay," laughed Roy, but he was silenced by a gun being cocked behind him and he went deathly pale at this before he turned to see an angry Riza staring at him.

"And just what might you mean by that dear," asked Riza, a bit of emphasis put on some words to get her message across. _Keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for you._ "Well I'm so glad that you and Gracia could join us for our anniversary dinner."

"I didn't even know that you two were married," said Hughes as he sat down and then he got a curious look from Riza and Roy. "What can this date hold so much significance for?"

"Oh nothing special," said Roy, but his mind was wondering in another direction.

**Flashback** (this is a recount of what happened in the tent in as less graphic a manner as I can write.)

_There she was, right next to him naked as the day she was born and in her eyes was a lust that looked like it would envelope them both as she moved her lips to his with her hand still on his zipper. She moved it up and down in a manner that made Roy moan with pleasure and then she l__ay on top of him while touching his lips with her own__ in a passionate kiss, two tongues wrapping around each other to become one while he did this. His hands moved all around over her body as they kissed and it massaged everywhere, causing her to moan in pleasure at the wonderful sensation that was going through her body as he massaged her breasts with his bare hands. __A few minutes later she was sweating like a person walking through the desert with a fur coat on and she had finally managed to get his pants off of him. It was hard to move in that tent, but they did fine without it, his tongue playing with hers as he fulfilled her desires and penetrated her, causing her to cry out in a mixture of pleasure and pain. When she was fully adjusted to him he started to move a bit, keeping a slow pace, but gradually building up in his movements until he was having her screaming at the top of her lungs. Roy had placed his mouth over her own so she was screaming into his mouth, but it was all so good, the feeling of being inside her and the ay her screams sent tremors through his mouths. They didn't care who heard them now, all they cared about was what they had now, the moment when they were in their small tent making love to each other, the here and now. __Their names shouting out in the distance._

**Flashback end**

"You know, we have got to go camping next year about this time," said Roy casually as he fooled around with his watch and he looked at Riza with a fox-like smile.

"Yeah and I think I know the perfect spot," said Riza as she smiled back and looked into his eyes.

_Fin!_


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